


Altea School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

by yeah_no_sorry



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Biracial Keith, Biracial Lance, Fluff and Angst, Hispanic Lance (Voltron), M/M, Magic School, Pining, Plot, Slow Burn, Werewolf Keith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-28 08:37:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 72,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7632805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeah_no_sorry/pseuds/yeah_no_sorry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some kids go to Altea (magic school) and learn a lot about both themselves and each other as they struggle through magical homework, detention, and battling the dark wizard Zarkon and his evil forces.<br/>---<br/>Lance picked up his goblet and aggressively clinked it with Keith's, forcing him to spill most of its contents. Keith glared at him, covered in pumpkin juice, but Lance laughed, eyes crinkling, mouth open so wide that Keith could see the pink of his tongue.<br/>He was soaking wet, too. Keith stifled a laugh, a smile tugging at his lips, before quickly turning back to his food with a scowl. He saw Lance shrug out of the corner of his eye.<br/>"You're insufferable," Keith said, words clenched.<br/>"Aw, c'mon. You can take a shower later anyways," Lance replied, taking a napkin and patting Keith dry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> They're still American, okay.
> 
> So the plot is gonna follow the basic outline of the HP series, just for continuity and structural stuff, but I promise it's still gonna be different and original, so don't leave yet. Pls
> 
> Also, just saying, I have nothing against Slytherin, in fact I am a Slytherin. I just honestly feel like none of the main characters really fit in that house. Also story purposes ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Pidge identifies as female because I want more gurlz

"Could you pass the potatoes, Keith?" Keith's Aunt Lauren asked tentatively.

"Oh, um, yeah. Here." He awkwardly picked up the bowl of potatoes and tried his best to reach across the table, self-consciously drawing inward as his Uncle Steve flinched away from his elbow. 

"Thank you."

Silence.

"So, we got a letter in the mail for you today, Keith," Aunt Lauren said, pursing her thin, pink lips and observing him cautiously.

"Oh?" Keith feigned interest, glancing up from his plate briefly before turning back to his meal.

"Yes. It's um, from that magic school your mother used to attend. Altea."

Keith glanced up, real interest sparking in his eyes. His aunt's expression was carefully guarded. Her inky almond eyes, usually crinkled in a tense smile, swirled with worry, and she surveyed him, her left dimple popping in and out of existence as she chewed at her cheek.

"Oh, um. Cool. I can go, right?"

"Well, your uncle and I are still considering it."

"I think it would be great for you," Uncle Steve piped up. Keith stared. Since when did Uncle Steve care about what was "great for him?" Aunt Lauren turned towards his uncle with a look of annoyance. He met her gaze, a quiet challenge rising in his dark, slanted eyes as he held his chin up in protest. Keith's cousin, Mike, made eye contact with Keith from across the table, a pained, yet resigned look overtaking his flat, angular features as he rolled his eyes. Keith winced sympathetically.

"Yes, well. We're not completely sure yet, of course. It could be dangerous." Aunt Lauren was speaking again, back to chewing relentlessly at her cheek. Keith wondered how long it would take before she chewed a hole through her face.

"I'd like to go," Keith said quietly.

"Well, I said we're _thinking_ about it."

"And I guess we'll spend so much time _thinking_ about it, that the school year will have ended by the time we decide," Uncle Steve joked. No one laughed.

\---

Keith sat at the window, absently poking at a ladybug as it crawled along the windowsill. He dropped his head in his arms absently, taking steady breaths in and out of his nose.

Altea. The school his mother had told him stories about when he couldn't sleep in the night, the place where he could escape the monotony and anxiety of his public school, the world of magic and life and endless possibilities. He had often dreamed for, desperately awaited the day that he would get his own letter and leave behind the cold, withdrawn confines of growing up in the Yamada household. A voice, in a hushed but forceful whisper, drifted from the next room.

"I just-I'm worried, Steve. Altea _destroyed_  my sister. After her seventh year, she ran away from home, left her family behind, then showed up seven years later, half-dead, with a five year-old werewolf child that we had to take care of-"

"Lauren. Your sister was fucked up from the beginning, can we just establish that?"

"What!? No she wasn't! Something about that school  _changed_  her, Steve. You barely even knew her when we were younger."

"I always knew she was weird."

"I...I-I'm just worried about Keith. I promised to take care of him."

"He belongs with his own  _kind_ , Lauren-"

"What the fuck do you mean? You talk about him like he's some kind of animal."

"Well..."

"You're disgusting."

Keith winced. The voices in the next room were steadily rising and Keith pressed his face deeper into his arms, eyes burning.  _Don't cry, you idiot. In, out. In, out_. He rubbed his face harder, desperately willing the tears back into his eyes. He looked up when the voices suddenly hushed again. Fearful but curious, he moved closer towards the wall, ears strained.

"Look. I'm sorry, but...you and I both know he's dangerous. I don't want any harm coming to Mike just because of his... _condition_." Uncle Steve's voice crackled in his skull.

"We can handle it. We have been for years," Aunt Lauren answered, uncertain.

"But what about if it changes? We don't know how to deal with it. These magicians or whatever will know how to help him. We won't have to deal with his crazy werewolf transformations every month. We can rest each night knowing that, for once, our son is completely safe."

"I don't know, Steve. He's only eleven. He'll be all alone again..."

Keith backed away from the wall, shuddering. They thought he was dangerous. That he would hurt his cousin. They didn't want him around. No one did. Tears sprang to his eyes, uncontrollable now. He jumped a little when his door opened a crack and Mike gingerly stepped inside. He sat down at the foot of the bed, patting the blanket beside him. Keith sat down. Tears silently rolled down his cheeks, and Mike gave his shoulder a gentle pat. Neither boy said a word. 

\---

"Here." Aunt Lauren held out a letter across the breakfast table. It was addressed to Keith. Its seal was broken and Keith took it, uncertain eyes following his hands as he opened the letter and let his gaze pass over it.

_Dear Mr. Kogane,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Altea School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

Keith took a breath. "Can I go?"

The doorbell rang before anyone could respond. Keith stood to get it, but Aunt Lauren pushed him down with a gentle hand. She walked stiffly towards the door.

"Lauren Yamada?" A young man's voice.

"Yes?"

"Does Keith Kogane live here?"

"...Yes."

"May I speak with him?"

A tired sigh. "Yes."

"Thank you Miss Yamada."

Keith craned his neck towards the door to catch a glimpse of the speaker and he met the gaze of a tall, well-built, young man with dark, angled eyes, a scar across his nose and a shock of bright white hair protruding from the crown of his jet black locks. Keith swallowed, raising his hand nervously. "Um, I'm Keith?" It came out like a question, his breath shaky.

"Hi. Call me Shiro. Or Professor Shiro to you," Shiro said, shaking Keith's hand. He looked around, smiling apologetically at the others. "Shall we go somewhere a bit more private?"

"Um, right." Keith stood, waving awkwardly at his family as he led Shiro to the living room. Mike raised an eyebrow, waving back somewhat mockingly.

"Alright, Keith," Shiro said, a kind look shining in his eyes as he situated himself on the couch. "You are aware that you were accepted to Altea, correct?"

"Um, yeah."

"Ok great. Now, the headmistress did want me to come talk to you about some of your...complications," Shiro said. "For lack of a better word," he added, smiling almost sheepishly down at Keith.

"Oh...yeah, sorry."

"Don't apologize! Listen. We can help. I hate to brag, but I happen to be quite good at concocting magical potions. Which is convenient for you because there just so _happens_ to be an important one that will significantly relieve the effects of your transformation. It's called Wolfsbane. With it, you'll still be able to attend school."

"But, uh, won't it be dangerous? When I transform?"

"Don't worry about it. We have a tree. The Whomping Willow, we like to call it. It holds a passage to a secluded shack where you should be far enough away from people that you won't be able to bite anyone. We'll keep you safe, Keith. You have nothing to worry about." He reaches out a comforting hand and places it on Keith's shoulder.

"...Cool."

"Yup. Very cool... So what do you say? You're coming to Altea, right?" Shiro beamed at him, and Keith felt a quiet tingle warm his face. Shiro was so... _nice_.

"Yeah."

"Great. We're very happy to have you."

"Uh, thanks."

\---

Lance pressed his nose to the glass excitedly, unable to draw his eyes away. His gaze hungrily took in the gleaming hilt of the smooth wooden broomstick, the tiny gold inscription near the base, and the delicately trimmed set of twigs at the tail end, fitting together in an intricate dance, a puzzle waiting to be solved. He jerked with sudden movement as a hand grabbed him by the hair and pulled him away from the window. It was his older brother, Lucas. 

"Ow," Lance said poutily, rubbing his neck and squinting up at his big brother. Lucas looked serious. He had always been that way. He was only nineteen and had already been given a fairly prominent position in the Ministry of Magic. But today, he looked even more tense than usual. Maybe it was because he had taken a day off work to come help Lance and his sister buy school supplies for the year at Altea. He hated missing work.

"You shouldn't just run off like that. I almost lost track of you  _and_  our stupid sister," he grumbled.

Lance glanced around. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. I just wanted to check out the Nimbus 2000! It's the newest model," he said, announcing it proudly, as though he himself had created it. Lucas cuffed him over the head affectionately.

" _Idiota_ , you know we can't afford that stuff," he said scoldingly, but not without sympathy.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lance admitted, frowning a little upon hearing the high pitch of his voice in comparison to his brother's. He paused, purposefully trying to lower his tone as he opened his mouth to speak again. "I was just  _looking_."

"Why are you talking like that?" Lucas asked.

"What? Like what?" Lance said, still focusing on keeping his voice low, eyebrows drawn together in concentration.

"Like you-never mind," Lucas said, shaking his head, laughter in his eyes. "Okay, let's split up. I'm going to go buy your books at Flourish and Blotts. You head to Madame Malkin's to get fitted for your robes. I'll meet you there. Hopefully one of us will have found Cami by then, too," he added with an eye roll.

"Right!" Lance said. He loved having a mission. A purpose! It made him feel important. Ready to take on the world, he took off down the street, dodging between various shoppers and students and shop owners. He reveled in the chaotic color and crash of the streets as he dashed along them. He surveyed the sparkling store windows and blockily-lettered signs hanging above them, and grinned at the energy taut in the air, the random passerby who milled around, raising eyebrows at the little eleven year-old boy who ran through the streets like his life depended on it. He was so distracted by the scene around him that he forgot where he was looking and crashed straight into the back of a skinny boy, getting a mouthful of messy jet black hair as he fell. Lance looked down in surprise at the boy beneath him, then hurriedly scrambled to his feet.

" _Mierda_ ," he said, relishing the forbidden word on his tongue when there was no one around to scold him for saying it. He rubbed his jaw and squinted at the boy, now struggling to sit up after the initial surprise of being completely knocked to the ground from behind.

"Are you okay?" Lance asked, reaching out a hand to help him up. The boy glared up at him and grumbled a terse, "Watch where you're going," before pushing himself to his feet without taking Lance's hand. _Oooookay then_.

"I really am sorry."

"Okay."

They watched each other for a moment. The boy was pale and looked rather uneasy, tugging at the sleeves of his muted red shirt. He had dark, almond-shaped eyes, high cheekbones, a small, round nose, and a pointed chin. Lance found himself thoroughly distracted by the way the boy's black, angled eyebrows furrowed and took shape as he looked around him, glanced at Lance in annoyance, and then turned back to the crowded street.

He couldn't really think of what else to say, but the boy was still standing there. Silent. He seemed worried and uncomfortable. Lance raised his eyebrows, his gaze tracing the way the boy's messy black hair sloped away from his face and came to rest in a fluffy tangle at the back of his neck.

"Um. Hi. I'm Lance McClain." He held out his hand for the boy to shake, but he kept looking around distractedly, coming back down to earth when Lance waved his hand in front of his face "Hellooooo."

The boy glared, sighed, and finally took Lance's hand. "Uh, Keith. Keith Kogane."

"Well, Keith, consider yourself lucky to have bumped into a wonderful person such as I, Lance McClain, on this special day-" Lance started, then stopped when he realized Keith wasn't listening. "Hey, earth to Keith. Dude. Are you looking for someone, or..?" He trailed off as he was silenced with another pointed glare. Okay, so the guy didn't want to talk. That was fine. Lance had other things to do.

"Um, well, nice to meet you, I guess."  _Although it really wasn't_ , Lance thought, raising his eyebrows as he turned to leave.

"Wait."

"Yeah?"

"Uh..." Keith paused, a blush dusting his cheeks as he scowls at the ground. "Do you know where the book store is? I've never been here before."

"Oh, now you seek out my illustrious advice." He grinned at Keith, who rolled his eyes, unimpressed.

"See the signs at the corners of the streets? They're kind of hard to notice because there are so many people here, but they have the addresses for all the stores." He peered up at one of the signs. "So, Flourish and Blotts is number 180, Diagon Alley, which means it's like two blocks that way," he said, pointing down the street in the direction he'd come running from, "and it's on this side of the road," he added, directing his thumb to the other side of the street.

Keith looked relieved. "Oh...thanks."

"Don't you mean, thank you, oh great-and-powerful Lance, you are my hero forever and for all time?" Lance asked casually, grinning. 

Keith glared. "Don't push it."

\---

"Aunt Lauren. You're crushing me," Keith squeaked against his Aunt's bony collarbone as she bent down over him and practically squeezed the life out of his body.

"Oh." She pulled away, jaw muscles tense as she smiled her characteristically tight smile, concealing her tornado of thoughts.

Mike clapped him on the shoulder. "Have fun. Write often," he said quietly. Mike didn't talk a lot, but Keith liked it when he did. "I will," he answered.

He turned to Uncle Steve, who nodded tersely and handed him his suitcase. "See you then."

"See you."

He turned nervously towards the space between platforms 9 and 10, remembering his mother telling him a story about how to get on the train. With a last glance over his shoulder, he barreled in between the two platforms and was suddenly greeted with the sight of a beautiful, scarlet steam engine. It whistled in welcome and Keith stepped on board.

He pushed his bags through the aisle of the train, peering in at every compartment, only to find that every one seemed to be filled to the brim with people. Rowdy boys holding a-was that a snake? Groups of giggling girls who turned their heads innocently when Keith awkwardly shifted his gaze. Older kids talking about old and new teachers. He sighed, about to give up, and resigned to shove himself into the middle of whatever random group he came across next. So, as he peeped into a compartment towards the back of the train and casually asked if there was room for him, he was thoroughly surprised to be greeted by a large and friendly hand on his back, guiding him in gently. He soon realized that the hand belonged to a Hunk Torres, a tall, heavyset kid with a goofy grin, strong jaw, and rounded nose. His eyes smiled and his brown hair was tied back with a yellow headband.

"Yeah, head on in here. We love company, bro. The more the merrier, you know?" Hunk said, after quickly introducing himself. Keith smiled. The rush of warmth coming from Hunk was immediately apparent and it made Keith instantly feel more comfortable.

"What's up? Name's Katie Holt, but you can just call me Pidge," a girl sitting beside Hunk said, looking up from the book perched on her lap to straighten her huge, round glasses and smile at Keith. She had brown eyes, so light that they took on a glowing amber hue, and light brown hair cut short in a way that poofed out sharply around her shoulders.

"I'm Keith. Nice to meet you guys."

"I know you," a voice came from the only person who hadn't bothered to introduce himself. A boy seated by the window beside Keith. Keith looked at him. There was something familiar about him: that crooked grin and the sharp eyebrows, his shining gray eyes, tanned brown skin, and long, upturned nose. Keith stared.

"Uh, who are you?"

The boy's face fell. "What? Seriously, you don't remember?"

"Sorry?" Keith did kinda feel sorry. The boy looked so disappointed.

"Lance McClain? We met at Diagon Alley. I helped you find the book store!"

"Oh, right. You were the guy who crashed into me from behind."

Pidge and Hunk snickered at that.

"Oh, Lance, ever watchful, aren't you?" Hunk asked, stifling his giggles with his hand. Pidge rolled her eyes, and Keith bit his bottom lip, amused. They all seemed very comfortable with each other. He figured that they were all friends from somewhere else.

"Wha-shut up! It was an accident!"

"We gathered," Pidge said. 

"Whatever. I can't believe you forgot who I was,  _pendejo_ ," Lance said, glaring at Keith.

Keith glared right back.

\---

Lance sulked in the corner of the train car while his friends got all buddy-buddy with his new arch-nemesis,  _Keith_.

He stared at the black-haired boy as the four children traded stories and treats, joking around together like Keith had always known them.

Maybe he wasn't sooo bad. Although, yes, he kind of was. Lance reached down into his pocket, groping around until his hand made contact with a pentagonal piece of plastic. He sighed, turning it over in his hand repeatedly. 

"So, what house do you think you might get?" Hunk asked Keith amicably. 

"Well, I don't really know them that well?"

"Oh, you're a Muggle-born?" Pidge asked, leaning over inquisitively.

"No, my mom was a wizard. I just, grew up with...Muggles." Keith looked down. 

"Oh." The others all stared at the ground for a moment, the unspoken message that Keith no longer _had_  a mother to care for him lingering awkwardly in the air.

Lance surveyed the scene, a twinge of sympathy twisting his gut.

"That's a new word for you, huh? Muggle. I guess it's pretty weird now that I'm thinking about it..." Lance broke in, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

Keith glanced up, looking relieved. "Yeah, ha. There's a lot of stuff I'm unfamiliar with."

Lance smirked. "You don't say," he said. There was someting nice about hearing that from the boy who acted like he knew everything.

Whatever favor he had recieved after saving Keith from the awkward moment was gone now, and Keith frowned.

"Don't listen to Lance. He's just stupid."

"Aw, Pidge. I didn't know you cared."

"Shut up."

Keith laughed faintly and Lance turned to him, still exasperated. But there was something about the way Keith laughed that distracted Lance from his perfectly devised retort, and instead he found himself spluttering indignantly. "Wha-I'm, what? I mean. You, Pidge, y-you shut up!"

Keith laughed again and Lance felt his face heat up as the others prodded him teasingly. 

"Aw, it's okay, buddy. We're almost there," Hunk said, gesturing at the huge castle glittering through the window. 

 _Wow_. Lance pressed his nose to the glass, feeling the phantom shadow of heat lingering behind him as Keith leaned over him to look as well. He found he didn't really mind it.

\---

As soon as Keith stepped into the Great Hall, his heart jumped to his throat, and he paused, realizing that all his years of dreaming, hoping, and planning had led up to this moment. They had all prepared him for this. He stood in between Lance and Pidge as the crowd of first years pressed forward, ogling at the starry sky above and the glimmering candles that cast light across the students' faces. 

He glanced up at the table in the front of the hall and noticed Professor Shiro sitting there, a calm smile plastered on his face as the children filed in. A beautiful woman sat beside him in the center of the table. She had dark skin and large, sparkling blue eyes, a color so piercing that Keith could make it out from all the way across the room. Her gleaming white hair fell in thick tresses around her shoulders and she smiled regally down at the students.

Pidge whispered in his ear, "That's Professor Allura, the youngest ever headmistress of Altea. She's kind of, like, my hero."

Keith's gaze fell on a middle-aged man with red hair and an excited smile as he watched the children. His large mustache twitched with amusement as the first years nervously made their way up. 

"That's Professor Coran, the deputy headmaster," Pidge added, following Keith's gaze.

Keith watched the Sorting Ceremony take place, nervously clutching at his robes as the students went up, one by one. Lance's fingers brushed his arm and Keith wondered if it was an intentional attempt to calm his nerves, but when he looked over at him, the taller boy was still very focused on the ceremony in front of them.

Pidge went up first, and was promptly sorted into Ravenclaw. She headed over to the table, smirking. Keith was next.

He sat nervously on the chair, uncertain. A voice echoed in his mind as the hat swamped his vision.

_Hm. Very interesting indeed. I can see your heart. You are incredibly brave. To a fault, I'm afraid._

_What? I am not._

_No, you really are. If not for your impractical death wish, I might've placed you in Slytherin. There's something in you..._

Keith took in a sharp breath. Could he see that he was a werewolf?

_Oh, yes, yes I can. But don't worry, that does not affect you._

_Do you think I'll be okay?_

_Damn, boy, I'm here to sort you into a house, not give you a therapy session._

_Um, sorry._

The hat's voice rang out loudly and it took Keith a moment to realize that it had spoken out loud and not in his head. "Gryffindor!"

He found his gaze drawn to Lance as he placed the hat back on the chair. For some reason, his face looked somewhat dismayed, almost stricken. _Weird_. He ambled his way over to the Gryffindor table, taking a seat beside a pretty girl with sandy brown hair and slightly tan skin as she scooted over to make room for him.

"Hi," she said, leaning down to talk to him. "My name's Camila. I'm a sixth year. I'm the prefect for Gryffindor, so if you have any problems, you can come to me alright?" Her tone was so warm and kind that Keith found himself nodding immediately.

He watched Lance get sorted into Gryffindor and come swaggering over to the table. Camila was cheering loudly. She stood to ruffle Lance's hair, yelling, "I'm so proud of you baby bro!" over the applause. 

Lance scooted in between Keith and Camila, pointedly scowling at Keith for daring to sit next to his sister, even though he literally had had no idea who she was. Keith opened his mouth to complain when Lance shushed him and pointed to Hunk, being sorted in the front of the Hall. Keith fell silent.

They clapped and cheered as Hunk was sorted into Hufflepuff, then excitedly turned to their food as Professor Allura rose out of her chair. "Well, I suppose this marks the beginning of the year! I'm so proud of all of you and I'm so excited to be educating your pliable young minds and training you to become the greatest witches and wizards of this generation!" She raised a goblet and clinked it with Shiro's and Coran's. Lance picked up his goblet and aggressively clinked it with Keith's, forcing him to spill most of its contents. Keith glared at him, covered in pumpkin juice, but Lance laughed back. He was soaking wet, too. Keith stifled a laugh, a smile tugging at his lips, before quickly turning back to his food with a haughty scowl. He saw Lance shrug out of the corner of his eye.

"You're insufferable," Keith said, words clenched.

"Aw, c'mon. You can take a shower later anyways," Lance replied, taking a napkin and patting Keith dry.

"Um, I can do that myself. But...thanks?" Keith said, grabbing the napkin and running it through his hair.

Lance grinned crookedly. "Haha, you are now forever indebted to me."

"No. I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm really not."

They passed the rest of the feast in relative silence, until the Gryffindor prefects started rounding up the kids and leading them back to the dorms.

"Okay, so you first year boys are sleeping here. For the rest of your lives here at Altea," Camila said mischievously, gesturing around the room. "Your suitcases have been brought up already," she added, smiling. "So, good night, and good luck!"

She disappeared down the stairs. Keith found his luggage next to Lance's bed and groaned inwardly. The other boy was scowling down at his sheets. _Great_. He seriously had to share a room with this jerk for a whole seven years. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha they have to sleep next to each other for seven years, possibly longer? you feel me you feel me
> 
> Just an intro/first meeting.
> 
> These are pretty self-explanatory but uh:  
> Idiota-Idiot  
> Mierda-Shit  
> Pendejo-Jerk


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith settle into the Altea routine. They learn more about each other and the school, but there will always be new secrets to uncover...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I just

Lance found that it was easy to settle into a routine at Altea. He loved his classes, his friends (even when they annoyed him), the food, and the sheer thrill of living in a beautiful, ancient castle filled with students and teachers. There were endless possibilities. The one thing he could not get used to, unfortunately, was Keith. Keith Kogane. The boy was infuriatingly good at everything he did. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Professor Cain, Keith had flipped Lance on his back with a spell they had been taught just that morning. In classes, Keith seemed to absorb and retain every bit of information thrown at him. He wasn't like Pidge. He didn't care about learning or knowledge, nor did he seek it out. He just breathed it in the way others breathed oxygen.

It wasn't that Lance was a bad student. It wasn't that he couldn't stand the idea of someone being better than him. He just couldn't stand the idea of  _Keith_  being better than him. At everything.

The first day of classes, they had had Transfiguration with Professor Coran, who had demonstrated how to turn a paper clip into a sheet of paper.

"Alright class. I'm going to split you up into pairs. Now don't work  _too_  hard. You must  _feel_  the magic coursing through your veins. Listen to its music in your ears," he chimed whimsically, striking a dramatic pose. Of course, Lance was paired with Keith, who got the spell immediately.

"I can't get it right!" Lance lamented, frustration peeling off of him in waves.

"Just calm down! You're getting way too worked up about it," Keith said, quickly losing his own patience. He took a breath. "Try again."

"Biblius!" The paperclip exploded.

"Um. You don't have to shout at it?" Keith rolled his eyes and sniggered behind his hand. Lance stared daggers at him.

"OH, I bet you're  _loving_  this, aren't you,  _Keith_?" he said angrily.

"If by 'this,' you mean, slowly losing my mind while watching you repeatedly mess up an easy spell, then no, I can't say that I am."

"...I hate you."

"I'll show you again." Keith leaned over Lance to pick up another paperclip from the box and flicked his wand. "Biblius." It transformed into a sheet of crisp, white paper.

"See? Caaalm," he said patronizingly.

"OK. Biblius." The paper clip danced across the tabletop. It did not explode.

"Better. Now get the flick of the wand to go more up. Let me show you," Keith offered, gently taking Lance's hand in his own.

Lance's breath caught at the sudden movement and his fingers tingled at the touch. "What are you doing?" he protested, yanking his arm away.

"Um. I'm showing you how to do the spell. So quit being difficult." Keith scowled and grabbed Lance's arm more forcefully this time, guiding his hand through the upward flicking motion.

"Try it."

"Ugh...Biblius." The paper clip shivered and transformed into a ream of paper.

"Finally," Keith sighed. "Uh, good job."

"...I still hate you."

"Naturally."

The only thing that Lance did better than Keith, surprisingly enough, was make potions. He had already been following recipes and cooking on his own for years, after Lucas had moved out and had left his mother alone to deal with Lance and his siblings. Potions was easy. He didn't have to listen to some natural magical music, as Coran suggested. He just followed what was written in the book. It gave Lance the sincerest pleasure when Professor Shiro would walk around the classroom and lean over  _Lance's_  shoulder, even though stupid perfect Keith was always right next to him, and praise his work and skill when concocting his potions. Keith would always throw him a dirty look afterwards, which was equally rewarding.

And despite Keith's frustrating perfection, Lance's infuriating cockiness, and their overall argumentative dynamic, Lance found himself seated next to Keith at every class, by his side at mealtimes, hanging out in the library, by the lake, in the common room. Somehow, he and Keith had latched on to each other, and although Lance would mostly complain about it, he settled into the relationship more everyday. The ease of their bickering, the habitual frustration at constantly being outdone, the small rare victories he experienced. They all added up to create a pattern. Lance's favorite routine of all.

\---

 "Hey, did you guys see this?" Pidge was poring over a newspaper at breakfast, eyebrows quirked in anxiety.

"See what?" Lance asked, peering over her shoulder at the article. His face immediately darkened, and Keith took a sharp breath. It was strange to see Lance looking so...serious. "Zarkon..." he muttered, his long, sharp features pulled into a scowl. Hunk placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and Keith wondered if he was missing something.

"Yeah," Pidge said with concern, shoving a spoonful of eggs in her mouth, "He struck again at the ministry. Almost killed the Minister of Magic. There were twenty-three civilian casualties. Muggles, too."

"Um. Sorry for asking, but, who's Zarkon?" Keith said nervously, wary of the tension and fear that the name carried.

Lance exploded. "He's an evil, evil wizard who's been trying to terrorize the wizarding world into following his orders and eradicating muggles. He's disgusting, and he-he hurts innocent people for no reason!"

"Um."

"He's been rising to power pretty steadily in the past few years. He has some sort of weird grudge against muggles and muggle-borns, even half-bloods, like Hunk," Pidge said with a shudder. "He likes to stage attacks on public places as a tactic to sow fear and hopelessness. But he has this...way of rallying people around him even though nothing he ever says makes sense. He's just blaming muggles for the dysfunctionality of our society. It's kinda terrifying."

"He's really becoming a threat to the wizarding world," Hunk added quietly. "People are worried. You never know where he'll strike next."

"Oh," Keith said.

\---

Lance swallowed as he walked. He could barely contain his excitement. Today was the day they learned how to fly. Cheap, school broomsticks in hand, he, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge made their way (along with the rest of the class) down to the pitch, where Professor Coran was waiting for them.

"Hello, students," he said, leaning forward and winking enthusiastically. "Isn't this exciting?" He lifted a whistle, blew into it loudly, then let the whistle ring out again. "I really like this thing," he said, gazing at the whistle in wonder. Lance rolled his eyes at Hunk and he snickered back, hand curled over his mouth.

"Okay, so this is how you mount," Coran said, demonstrating the technique. "You must trust in your broomstick. Show it respect, but be firm with it when you kick off from the ground."

Pidge wiggled her eyebrows at the three boys, lovingly stroking the broomstick as though it were a friendly dog. Lance stifled a laugh and turned his attention back to Professor Coran. He was in the air, forming repeated loops, twists, and turns. 

"Now, you try!" he said happily, touching back down. The class stared. No one moved.

"Just go with it. Mount." The students mounted their broomsticks. "Now kick off!"

All the students kicked, and Lance gasped in surprise to find that he was the only one who left the ground, slowly making his way higher and higher before coming to a stop near the top of an apple tree.

"Very good, Lance!" Professor Coran yelled from below. Hunk shot him a thumbs up.

"Yo,  _Keith_ , why dontcha come up here and join me?" Lance shouted down. "Unless you're too  _scared_."

Pidge's eyeroll was visible from all the way below.

"I'm not scared!" Keith shot back.

"Prove it!"

Keith mounted his broom stick angrily and immediately kicked off the ground, eyes widening as he realized he'd done it, then narrowing as he smirked at Lance. He glided over to him until his face was just centimeters away from Lance's and said, "Wherever you go, I can go, too,  _jerk_."

Lance blinked. "Wow, you're uh, that was pretty good for a first timer..." he said, ignoring the pounding of his heart as Keith leaned in closer.  _Man_ , this guy was so infuriating he could get Lance's blood pressure up just by  _looking_  at him.

Keith paused, looking around nervously. "Oh really? Th-thanks, I guess." He smiled uncertainly.

Lance smirked, "Well, sure you can fly, but can you catch this?" He plucked an apple from the tree, waving it behind him as Keith grabbed for it. "Ah ah ah." He leaned back as far as he could and tossed it away, a challenge rising in his eyes. Keith looked anxious for a moment, then turned to meet the challenge, immediately speeding after the apple.

Lance's eyes bugged. "Keith, wait, you don't actually have to catch it, I was just kidding!" Oh my god, Keith was gonna die because of him. He chased after him, catching up the second Keith reached out and delicately caught the apple in his hand. He turned to Lance, grinning.

Lance glared. "I thought you were gonna die, man."

"Well, I didn't. Disappointed?"

"Very."

At that moment, their stare-off was interrupted by excited cheers behind them. Professor Coran was dancing in a circle, clapping at the sky. "Bravo! Bravo!"

The boys touched back down, and Coran smiled. "That was excellent flying, boys. And Keith, what a beautiful catch! You know, a new Seeker position just opened up on Gryffindor's team. I can see you getting in. In fact, I think I may just put you on the team myself!"

Keith looked at him in surprise, then turned to Lance, a triumphant smile plastered across his face. Lance stared. So this was what he got for goading on his enemy. Of course Keith was going to get a spot on the team after having flown on a broomstick for all of thirty seconds. Life just wasn't fair.

\---

"What's a 'werewolf,' mommy?"

"It's a man-wolf. That means he's a man, but sometimes, when the full moon comes, he forgets he's a man and he becomes a big, scary  _wolf_!" Soft white hands reached out to tickle Keith's sides and he giggled, laughter bubbling in his chest.

"I like wolves."

"Me too, sweetie. Me too." The same hands ruffled his soft, black hair, brushing the strands away from his face.

"Am I a werewolf?"

"Yes."

"So, am I scary?"

"Sometimes. But not to the people who love you." A smile. Foggy. He couldn't really see anything. Keith reached out, but found nothing there.

"But how will any one love me if they're scared of me?"

"Don't worry Keith. Keith. Keith!"

Keith opened his eyes groggily, a skinny brown hand shaking his shoulder. He tasted salt on his tongue and brushed his fingers across his face. It was wet with tears.

\---

"Keith, buddy. Wake up. We gotta get breakfast and head to class," Lance said, shaking Keith awake. He peered over the other boy as he opened his eyes and noticed tear tracks glittering on his cheeks.

"Dude, are you crying? I mean, I could tell you were having nightmares, but I didn't know they were  _that_  bad." He raised an eyebrow, concern shooting through his chest, before letting a cocky grin spread across his face.

Keith swiped the tears away angrily. "Shut up!"

"Okay, dude, I'm sorry. Here." Lance tossed a chocolate frog over to Keith, who grasped it immediately and bit off the head before it wriggled away. He cheered up a bit.

"Who'd you get?" Lance asked, nodding at the chocolate frog card clutched in Keith's hand. He felt a faint twinge of apprehension as Keith lifted the pentagon-shaped card to his face and examined it. What if he got...? 

"Professor Allura," Keith answered, staring at his headmistress, who looked up at him coolly, arms crossed, then changed her mind and began waving at him with an elegant smile. "What about you?" he asked, gesturing at the card in Lance's hands.

Lance swallowed. "Uh, Earle Garrison, the Minister of Magic," he lied. He rubbed his thumbs across the card's worn surface, ignoring the pang he felt when he looked down at the familiar, smiling face.

\---

"Ok, so what does this spell accomplish?" Professor Cain asked the class. She was a young woman, maybe in her early thirties, with thin brown hair always drawn back in a tight, shiny ponytail. She had very large teeth, which was especially obvious when she was talking to the class. Keith leaned back in his chair. He liked Defense Against the Dark Arts, but sometimes, it got a little tedious, like when Professor Cain decided to ask questions like, "what does this spell accomplish?"

Lance was tapping his wand absently, and looked up to grin at Keith when he noticed his eyes on him. Keith raised an eyebrow and Lance leaned over to whisper something in his ear. "Professor Cain's eye is twitching like a jackhammer, dude, look." Keith looked. It was true. Her eye was twitching a mile a minute, like she had a string attached to her lid and someone was repeatedly pulling it up and down. 

"I wonder what's wrong," Keith whispered back.

"Nah, nothing's wrong. She's just like, perpetually nervous, like she's got a huge earthquake in her brain."

"True," Keith conceded. 

"Boys, is there a problem?" Cain's voice rang out and Keith and Lance froze.

"Um, no?" Lance said.

"Good. Then please stop talking, unless you want to contribute to the class."

"I think she kinda hates me," Lance said poutily.

"I think she kind of hates everyone."

"Fair point."

"Boys! You know what, that's enough. Ten points from Gryffindor. Oh, and you can come see me after class for detention."

Lance waved his hands at the sky and mouthed  _What?_  at Keith, who glared. Detention with Lance. What a treat.

\---

"I'm serious, dude. She totally hates us. She resents our simple youth."

Keith rolled his eyes. He was stuck with Lance, organizing Cain's books and clapping her erasers.

"Lance, she's our teacher. We were talking in class, so she called us out."

"Yeah, but don't you get this, like, 'ew kids' vibe?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Cool. Let's add one _more_  thing to the list of things Keith doesn't know. Hm, let's see, I'll put it right here, under  _everything_ ," Lance said, miming putting a quill to paper and looking smugly up at Keith from where he was arranging Cain's bookshelves.

" _Wow_ , Lance. I guess I'll have to add 'how to be an idiot' to the list of things you _do_ know how to do. Right here under-oh wait, there's nothing there." Lance opened his mouth to retort, but stopped when he heard a snicker from the doorway. Pidge and Hunk poked their heads in, grinning mercilessly.

"Heard you guys got detention," Pidge said. "Couldn't even keep it together for the first month of school. Like, honestly, I'm impressed."

Hunk furrowed his brows. "How long do you guys have to stay here for?"

Lance faked a swoon. "Two hours. Two hours of my beautiful adolescence that I will never get back!"

"Oh, that's pretty brutal," Hunk said sympathetically.

Keith raised an eyebrow, then turned to Pidge and Hunk. "So uh, why are you guys here?"

"We just thought we'd come and piss you off since you can't leave," Pidge answered, as though it were obvious.

"Yup," Hunk said, nodding matter-of-factly.

"So, I'm thinking we should proabably go do something really cool after taunting them, like, kitchen run?" Pidge suggested, turning to Hunk and pulling a flaky pastry dusted with sugar out of her pocket and taking a bite. "Oh, wait, we already did that. Just now." She cackled evilly and Keith and Lance stared at her, affronted.

"Yup, that was sooo fun, Pidge. I'm so glad we have all this delicious food to eat now," Hunk said, taking a bite of a daintily frosted slice of chocolate cake.

"Oh no, Hunk, I think you dropped a piece!" Pidge pointed at the ground, smirking in mock concern.

"Well, that's alright. There's plenty more where that came from!" Hunk replied, grinning and pulling out more cake.

Lance groaned. "Hunk, why?"

"Sorry, buddy, but you and I both know this is the only way you'll learn your lesson."

"I'm just doing it 'cause it's fun and you guys are stupid," Pidge said sensibly.

Lance roared, leaping towards them, and Pidge giggled and took off down the hall, Hunk hot on her heels.

"C'mon Keith!" Lance yelled over his shoulder, laughter sparkling in his eyes. "We gotta catch those traitors!"

Keith grinned, warmth tickling his sides as he took off after Lance.

"Come back here, you cowards!" Lance's battle cries echoed the hallways as the four children dashed through. Keith laughed, feet hitting the stones as he ran after them. At that moment, Pidge and Hunk took a sharp turn, and Keith went crashing into Lance, who went crashing into the wall.

"Oh, shoot, sorry."

"Ow, dude."

Pidge and Hunk stopped running and came back towards them, still giggling a little.

"You okay Lance?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah, just-" he was interrupted just then by a shift in the rock behind him, and the four kids watched in amazement as the wall began to move.

"Wait," Pidge said. "Did you just open a secret passage?" She leaned forward, fingers brushing over the tiles Lance had crashed into, in the same pattern his limbs had made contact with the wall. Each one of the stones made a slight indent when she pressed. 

"Dude," she said, turning to them excitedly. "So cool."

Lance peered down the tunnel, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Keith let out a huff of annoyance and shouldered past him, saying, "Let's check it out." He led the way, followed closely by Lance and Pidge. Hunk hung back. "Guys, I uh, really don't think this is a good idea? Like at all."

"Dude, are you coming or not?" Lance yelled over his shoulder.

"Uh, fine. I'm coming. Wait!" Hunk stepped into the tunnel, muttering nervously under his breath.

Keith surveyed the tunnel walls. The passage was clearly very old. The rock on the sides of the wall crumbled slightly when he rubbed his fingers against them, and there were thin, creeping vines bravely twining themselves through the cracks.

"These markings are pretty strange," Pidge said, pointing to some engravings on the walls. "It seems like they're old spells. Enchantments or something."

"It's so dark down here. I have a bad feeling about this. Bad, bad, bad, you guys. Seriously," Hunk complained from where he held up the back of the line.

"Relax," Lance said as they came to a wooden door. He looked around at the others, a silent question in his eyes, and they nodded back, their nervousness tinged with breathless excitement. Lance flung the door open and the four children piled in.

Keith stared. His gaze was met with five pairs of bright eyes as five heads turned to stare in their direction. Lions.

They were magnificent, majestic creatures, each one a different color: blue, red, green, yellow, and black. 

" _Sálvame_..." he heard Lance whimper beside him.

Keith's breath caught in his chest and his gaze was drawn to a bright red lion, her fiery pelt glittering as she shifted her weight and leisurely strolled up to Keith. She locked eyes with him, snarling, and Keith found he couldn't tear his eyes away.

"Fascinating..." Pidge murmured to his left, eyeing the lions as they slowly ambled towards them. 

"Why aren't they killing us?" Lance asked out of the corner of his mouth. 

"I don't know. They seem kind of, docile," Hunk said. He gently reached out towards the bright yellow lion who was busy licking her fur. Pidge straightened her glasses nervously, focusing on the alert, emerald green lion who circled the children warily. "They could become agitated, though. I wouldn't get too close."

Lance nodded in agreement, but then jumped in surprise, letting loose an undignified yelp as a lion of shimmering blue walked up to him and prodded his arm with her cold, wet nose. She fixed him with an icy glare. 

The black lion prowled up to them last, light bouncing off her fur like stars glimmering in the dead of night. She growled first, snapping loudly, and then opened her mouth in a tremendous roar.

"OH god, oh god, oh god," Hunk cried, lifting a tiny, protesting Pidge up by her arms and dashing out the door. Keith wanted to follow but found his legs were frozen. He was completely floored by the burning, ruby gaze of the red lion.  _I can't move. I can't move. I ca-_  Long, bony fingers closed around his wrist and a voice jolted him back to reality.

"Keith. What are you doing? Come on, we gotta go!"

Keith turned to Lance, meeting his eyes for a second before Lance started running. His fingers tightened around Keith's wrist, and he turned around to lock the door before dragging Keith back up the tunnel with him. Keith told himself to breathe, heart pounding from the ordeal as his feet matched pace with Lance's.

The four of them found themselves back in the hallway after Pidge successfully tapped the stones in the correct order and shut the opening. They breathed heavily, hearts beating in their chests.

"What was that?" Lance asked.

"Those were the five lions of Altea. I've read about them in books and stuff, but I didn't think they were real. According to the legends, they taught magic to the founders of Altea, and then found the location to build the school," Pidge supplied. "They were always described as being huge and each one was a different color: red, blue, yellow, green, and black."

They stared at each other, excitement building as they realized they had just uncovered one of the castle's many secrets. Shiro walked by. 

He stopped. "Hello, you four."

"Hi, Professor Shiro," Pidge said, still a little breathless. Shiro raised an eyebrow. 

"Aren't you two supposed to be in detention with Professor Cain?" he asked, gesturing at Keith and Lance. The two boys looked at each other, then down at the floor. Keith felt his ears heating up. He caught a glimpse of the others, and saw Lance smiling sheepishly, still studying the floor. Hunk surveyed the scene sympathetically, and Pidge, though mildly concerned, looked like she was trying very hard not to start laughing.

He braved a glance back up at Shiro, who was standing there, eyes sparkling, lips twitching with amusement. "Alright, alright. She's not in her room at the moment. She's at the library. I can go distract her for a few minutes, but you'd better both be back in her classroom by the time she gets there."

Lance looked up, incredulous. "Really? Oh my god, thank you Professor Shiro. So, so much." He clasped his arms in front of him dramatically.

"Yeah, thanks," Keith said.

Professor Shiro smiled kindly. "Don't thank me. Just hurry up and get back to detention," he said sternly, although the light in his eyes betrayed his tone.

Lance grinned, "Will do." He set off down the hall. "Come  _on,_ Keith." Keith smiled.

\---

Lance took the stairs two at a time until he reached the common room below. Keith was sitting in an armchair, concentrating on his homework or something. Lance sidled up to him.

"Hey. I was gonna head to the library with Pidge and Hunk to study for that Charms test. You wanna come?"

Keith started, looking up at him briefly, his mind clearly somewhere else. "Oh, um, no thanks. I have...quidditch practice."

"Oh, right, okay. I'm Keith and I'm so cool and talented and I'm the youngest Seeker on the team in a century," Lance said mockingly, throwing himself down on the couch opposite Keith and sulking. He knew it was his fault they weren't getting along, simply because he was jealous. Something about Keith just bothered him, though. He couldn't quite rein in his thoughts and think logically when he was around.

"Um. Sorry?" Keith said, then paused, squinting one of his eyes in confusion. "You think I'm cool? A-and talented?"

"What, no! I only asked to study with you because you're so sma- I mean, so stupid! Because you're so stupid and you would make me look even smarter by comparison."

"Right. That's a great studying technique. Must be why you're doing sowell in all your classes." Keith's voice dripped with sarcasm. Lance chose to ignore it.

"Yup, better than  _you_ , shorty!" That caught Keith off-guard.

"Shorty? I'm not short."

"You're shorter than  _me_ , so  _I_  get to call you short," Lance retorted. Keith stared at him as though he'd grown a second head, and Lance wondered if he'd zoned out again. "Uh, Keith?"

Ketih spluttered out of his reverie and scowled, ears turning pink.

"What?"

"Um, never mind."

\---

A month of school had passed quickly and Keith slowly began to feel the effects of his werewolf transformation as the nights drew closer and closer to a full moon. One morning, he woke up feeling queasy, and spent twenty minutes throwing up in the nearest toilet. He saw Lance enter the bathroom from the corner of his eye and decided to ignore him. He groaned inwardly. There was no way Lance was going to let him forget about this.

"Whoa, dude, are you okay?" Lance's voice was tinged with worry. Keith looked up at him in surprise, trying to choke out a response.

"Y-yeah, I'm just-" he started, voice hoarse, but was immediately interrupted by another stream of bile and turned back to the toilet.

"Um. Maybe you  _shouldn't_  go to class today," Lance said. Keith took a sharp breath when he felt a steady, warm hand on his back. His neck prickled.

"No. Professor Shiro. I have to...talk to...Shiro," he coughed out, remembering the Wolfsbane potion he'd mentioned. Lance paused, then drew his hand away. Keith wished he'd kept it there longer.

"I'll go get him," Lance said, and Keith was left alone with the sound of retreating footsteps.  _Wow, he can actually be nice sometimes,_ Keith thought.  _That's a surprise._  Although if he were being completely honest with himself, he wasn't surprised at all. Lance was annoying sure, and competitive, and petty, but he really  _cared_  about things. He always put all of his energy into whatever it was he was doing, unlike Keith. There was something so...likable about the way the other boy jumped with excitement when he was happy, snarled in anger when he was not, and reached out to his friends when he was worried.  _I guess this means he cares about me,_ Keith thought, trying to ignore the rush of warmth that tingled in his face. He jumped when he heard a voice.

"He's in here." Lance.

Someone bent down next to him. It was Professor Shiro, concern written in his features. "Are you okay, Keith?"

Keith nodded, nervous to start vomiting in front of Professor Shiro. Thankfully, the bout of queasiness seemed to have passed. Lance's hand bumped his shoulder, and Keith reached up to grab a paper towel. He wiped his mouth and leaned back against the wall of the bathroom, a headache starting to pound in his ears. He looked around uncomfortably, eyes flitting over to where Lance stood. Shiro seemed to understand. He turned around. "Do you think we could have a moment alone, Lance? Sorry."

Lance opened his mouth to protest, then stopped when he met Keith's eyes and nodded. "Sure." He left.

"Do you feel like you'll be turning soon?" Shiro asked, placing a gentle hand on Keith's forehead.

"Yeah." Keith closed his eyes. The tinny bathroom light was blinding.

"Alright. I suspected this. I've already started brewing the potion. It should be ready by the end of the day."

"Okay."

"I'll show you how to get into the Whomping Willow on the night before the full moon, alright?"

"Okay. Thanks, Professor."

"No problem." Shiro stood up to leave before turning back to Keith. "Oh, and Keith?"

Keith opened one eye. "Yeah?"

"Have you told anyone yet? Have you told Lance?"

Keith's heart stopped. He remembered the way his aunt and uncle used to look at him at the end of every month when he started to feel sick. The fear, the tense anxiety held taut in their jaws. Their words rang in his ears from the night he had overheard them talking about him. 

_I don't want any harm coming to Mike because of Keith's...condition._

_You talk about him like he's some kind of animal._

He dropped his head between his knees. It hurt. It hurt. He had friends here. What would they say? What would they do? Surely if they knew, they would also fear him. And they weren't family, like Aunt Lauren and Uncle Steve. They weren't forced to stick around because of the components of their shared blood. They would leave him. Alone again. Because he was too unstable, and the danger wasn't worth it. He was a monster.

"...no."

"Well, it's your decision, Keith. But, I think you should tell them. You have some pretty incredible friends. I'm sure they'll stay by you."

 _Probably Hunk,_  Keith thought.  _Maybe Pidge._

 _But Lance?_   _N_ _ot Lance,_ he thought, panic building in his chest.  _Not Lance._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to show some parallels/patterns in each section, like in the first one, with routines and stuff. Or in the lion/detention section, Lance keeps saying "cmon keith."
> 
> Anyway yeah, their relationship is growing. There were some pretty awkward attempts at foreshadowing, so sorry about that.
> 
> Theories? Ideas? Anyone? Idk, just curious.
> 
> Also I didn't realise I posted this on HP's bday! lol
> 
> Sálvame=Save me (poor Lance)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens. So much baggage for children so smol

Lance slathered his toast with butter, humming thoughtfully. Every few seconds, he turned his gaze over to Keith, who sat at the table, paler than usual, mouth drawn in a tight line.

"Dude. You should probably eat something. You want to have all your energy for the match today," Lance said. He tried his best to sound supportive and smother the jealousy out of his tone. But he couldn't help that his insides still clenched with frustration when he he looked at the tense, unhappy glare on Keith's face. Lance would have given _anything_ to be on the quidditch team, and Keith just sat there, features hardened by a scowl, arms crossed impossibly tight, like he wished he could be anywhere else. His leg jumped up and down frantically, the only sign that let on how nervous he really was.  _You'd think he was about to attend his own funeral._

"I don't need energy," Keith said impatiently.

"Um, yeah, you do," Lance said, attempting to sound reasonable.

"No, I don't."

"I was just  _suggesting_."

"Well, quit' _suggesting,_ ' then."

Hunk, gingerly munching on a piece of bacon, looked up in vague amusement. "Alright relax, you guys are both on edge today because you're nervous about the game. We get it."

Pidge rested her head in her hands. "Seriously though, if you're gonna argue about this, please do it somewhere else. Hunk and I do _not_ care. Like, at all." She rubbed her temples methodically.

Lance opened his mouth to defend himself, but squeaked in surprise as a familiar, long-fingered hand reached out to ruffle his hair from behind.

"Hi Cami," he said.

" _Hola, hermano_ ," his older sister replied, a sly grin on her face. "Pidge, Hunk, Keith," she added with a nod at each of Lance's friends. Pidge and Hunk waved at her. Keith attempted to smile.

"Hey, Keith Kogane? The first year seeker! You're gonna catch the Snitch and whoop some Slytherin butt today, right?" one of Cami's friends, Deeya, asked. She grinned down at the four kids. Keith looked like he was going to throw up.

"Uhh," he said.

"Ahem. We do not condone  _violence_ in this school," Lance told Deeya, pulling a pretentious smile and patting his hair down fussily. 

" _Oye_ , that's my line," Cami said, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

Lance smiled, bringing his hands to the sides of his face in mockery. "Looks like _some_ body's getting soft."

Cami cuffed him over the ear. "You wish."

Deeya laughed, tugging at Cami's arm as they headed over to sit with their friends. Lance turned back to Keith, who looked faintly amused by the scene he had just witnessed. Unfortunately, his leg immediately began bouncing again and the scowl was back. Lance sighed, putting his toast down. _He better not lose the game because of his stupid nerves,_  he thought with a quiet grimace.

"Keith, buddy, look at me." Keith looked. "You...you're really good, okay? You're lame, and you're a jerk, but you're really good at quidditch. I just...wanted to say that. You don't have to prove yourself to anyone, you know? I mean, not to _me_ at least."

Keith stared at him, and Lance watched the guarded expression in his eyes fade. It was quickly replaced with a flicker of gratitude and lingering relief.

"Uh, thanks, Lance. That was, kind of nice."

"I only said it 'cause I don't want you messing up Gryffindor's chances of winning!"

Pidge smiled, patting Lance on the back. "Now we can add 'being nice to Keith' to the list of moments in Lance's lifetime when he wasn't a complete idiot," she said flatly.

"Must be a pretty short list," Keith said.

"Oh, it is," Hunk assured him, much to Lance's displeasure. He opened his mouth to reply, but then noticed that Keith had relaxed significantly, the hints of a real smile dancing across his face for the first time that morning.

Lance let his retort fizzle away on his lips.

\---

Keith braced himself as the quaffle dropped, whizzing away in a desperate search for the Snitch. Although Lance's words had applied some perspective to the muddled thoughts buzzing anxiously around his brain, Keith knew he would disappoint himself if he lost his first game.

Gryffindor scored first: a shot by the captain, Wicks, that had the crowd in an uproar. Keith missed it, unfortunately, too focused on locating a tiny glimmer of gold somewhere on the field. Desperate not to let himself get distracted, he refused to pause and even allow himself a smile when he heard the commentator announce that Stephanie Taylor managed to score another goal for them, boosting Gryffindor's lead to 20-0.

As time went on, the Slytherins caught up. Kelly Wong scored two goals for Slytherin in quick succession and suddenly the two teams were tied. Keith had to find that Snitch. 

Connor Brown scored the third goal for Slytherin when Keith noticed a flash of gold glittering in the corner of his eye and shot after it. A Bludger flew past his head, narrowly missing his nose, as Johann Parker, one of Slytherin's beaters, noticed him frantically chasing after the delicate golden orb. He reveled in the wind scraping through his hair and the excitement that flooded him when he lifted his arm up to reach for the Snitch. He thought he registered air rushing near him and caught a glimpse of green. So Slytherin's seeker had noticed the Snitch as well.

He spurred his broomstick forward, trying to create more momentum as the Snitch began to rise on a steep incline, higher and higher into the air. Keith followed it until his fingers brushed its smooth, golden surface. He grunted with effort and thrust this arm out further, fingers finally closing securely over the tight little ball. A thrill of triumph and a roaring rush of warmth enveloped his body, just before a stronger, much more solid, feeling came crashing into his back, ripping the air from his lungs and forcing spots into his vision. Suddenly his broomstick wasn't there anymore and the sky was struggling to hold him up. All he could do was hold on to the Snitch. Tighter. Tighter.

\---

"When is he going to wake up?" Lance asked, peering over Keith, who still lay sleeping a few hours after his ordeal on the quidditch field. 

"Soon. Now," Miss Eloise, the resident healer, said, shrugging.

Pidge and Hunk sat at Keith's bedside while Lance flopped down on the bed adjacent to his. They were in the hospital wing. Professor Allura and Shiro were there, too, standing silently at the foot of his bed, waiting. Memories of the incident flashed through Lance's mind again: he remembered the way his heart had leaped in fiery excitement the second Keith had caught the Snitch, only to freeze in icy silence when Keith had gotten slammed in the back with a Bludger and fallen off his broomstick. The whole school had watched with chests tight and hands clutched in fear until Professor Allura had cast a frantic spell, softening the boy's fall. Lance could still feel a lingering shadow of the white-hot panic that seared through his chest as he watched his friend's turbulent descent.

Keith stirred. Pidge, Hunk, and Lance all leaned over him, a clamor rising in their throats as they struggled to gauge the level of harm that their friend had endured. 

"Hunk, quit shoving me-"

"I'm not shoving, I'm just big-boned. I can't control where my limbs end up-"

"Yes, you can. You have a motor system that functions, just like everyone else's-"

"Pidge, you know that's not what I-"

"Yeah, Pidge, stop overcomplicating things with your logic!"

"Weren't you just telling Hunk to-never mind."

"Okay, okay, leave him some room to breathe," Miss Eloise said finally, pushing the children away forcefully, and Lance stepped back in alarm. Miss Eloise had strong arms for someone so petite.

Professor Allura came forward when a disoriented Keith opened his eyes.

"Are you alright, Keith?" she asked. Lance frowned, taking in the way Keith's eyes roved tentatively over her face.

"Yeah. My body aches, though. My right leg especially."

"Ah yes, you might have...um...broken a few bones. Quite a few, actually," Professor Allura said sheepishly. "I apologize and take full responsibility for this mistake."

"Um, it's...okay. What happened?"

"Well, you were hit with a Bludger. I was able to break your fall, but you'll still have to stay in bed for at least a week while you recover. I will notify your teachers, but I  _highly_ suggest you get one of your friends, here," she broke off to gesture and smile at the three children still slightly bent over Keith, "to get your homework and class notes over to you."

Lance swallowed. Professor Allura was always so practical and efficient, when talking to students and teachers alike. He had a lot of respect for her and he particularly liked how she treated him like an equal and not just an eleven year-old kid with no idea how to hold a wand.

Professor Shiro leaned forward over Professor Allura's shoulder and said, "We were all pretty worried about you, but it's good to know you've regained consciousness at least." He glanced over at the other three children and laughed at Lance's restless expression. He spoke again. "I guess we should leave you alone with your friends now. I'll come visit later." He pat Keith gently on the shoulder and followed Allura as she flounced purposefully out the door. Lance grinned. Shiro was so nice.

The children bent over Keith again, forgetting all attempts to let him breathe.

"We were so scared when you fell, dude. I started crying!"

"It _was_ pretty scary, but Professor Allura used this really cool spell that like slowed your body in midair. I think she must've used some kind of time-slowing charm."

"I'm just so happy you're alive, I think I might start crying again."

"Nice catch, dude. Honestly, it was beautiful. Gryffindor's having a huge party right now. Too bad you have to stay in bed for a whole week. Heh."

"Oh my god, see, I'm crying again!"

\---

"Here. At Altea, we have a tradition: the Seeker gets to keep their first Snitch," Shiro said, holding out the delicate golden ball to Keith. 

Keith took it and tossed the little sphere up in wonder, marvelling at the way it twinkled in the light. 

"Cool."

 Shiro smiled. "Normally we present it to the Seeker right after the game, but since you were...indisposed, Allura just asked me to give it to you now."

"Oh."

"Don't worry about it. It was no one's fault," Shiro said simply. "Well, that's what I'm supposed to say, at least. Look. You won the game for your team, and if you got injured on the way, it's just...an unavoidable factor. Players get hurt all the time."

Keith looked down at his sheets. "I know. It's just...annoying."

Shiro nodded, smiling down at his lap, and then looked up at Keith, eyes crinkling. "Yeah, it is."

\--- 

The hospital wing was boring. Keith found himself looking forward to the afternoons, when his friends brought him his schoolwork. Hunk always came bearing food. Food from the kitchens, food his mother had sent from home, food he'd snuck out of the Great Hall at mealtimes. He and Keith liked to split a tray of sugar-coated pastries and swap homework and highlights of the day (Hunk's were always more interesting). Pidge came in often, too, but she preferred to do her work without distractions, and the two would sit in peaceful, companionable silence, something that Keith had forgotten how much he enjoyed. 

Lance visited the most. He would come bounding into the infirmary, laden with class notes and homework, and would then proceed to pester Keith into accepting homework help as he babbled on about Professor Trilbid's lectures on the technicalities of elemental charms. Some nights, he would stay with Keith until he'd talked himself to sleep, head resting on his arms, breaths slowing into a quiet rhythm that Keith found oddly comforting. He could never bring himself to wake the other boy. Even Lance's cavernous snores were better to sleep with than the suffocating silence that Keith was left alone with in the darkness of the infirmary. No matter the night, however, Lance would eventually blink awake at some odd hour and sneak back to the Gryffindor dormitories, unwilling to get caught out of bed, and Keith would be left alone again.

\---

"By the way, Craig and Thomas said feel better and they promise not to touch any of your stuff while you're away," Lance said one particular night when he, Pidge, and Hunk had all chosen to visit Keith together.

"You guys all miss me that much? I'm touched," Keith said flatly.

"Yup. They also said why does it take so long for you to heal a couple broken bones when we literally live in a magic school. That was Craig."

"I gathered," Keith said, rolling his eyes.

"Guess I can't blame them," Pidge said. "Sharing a room with Lance must suck without someone to shut him up at night."

Lance, looking personally affronted, held a hand to his heart. "I'll have you know that I am a great roommate, _Pidge_. Craig loves talking to me. Sometimes. And Thomas never really sleeps anyway." 

Keith nodded in assent. Thomas suffered from insomnia and lived in a perpetual sleep-deprived state.

"I bet that's 'cause of you, Lance," Hunk suggested reasonably.

"You know what? I do not appreciate this. I don't need this. I have an essay to write," Lance said indignantly. 

" _Now_ he cares about homework."

"Pidge!"

 ---

 The children hadn't realized how much time had passed until Pidge glanced at the clock. "Oh, wow, you guys, it's past curfew. We should get back to our dorms."

"Oh great, not again," Lance complained, standing and stretching out his long arms, sending a series of pops flickering over his joints.

"You guys don't have to go _now_. I mean, the teachers are usually in the hallways at this time of night. Maybe you should wait a little longer. We could play cards or something," Keith said, looking down at his sheets uncomfortably. "Or...I could come with you," he offered. He felt trapped in the stupid hospital wing in his stupid hospital bed. Suddenly, the thought of being left behind, alone with his thoughts in the torturous stillness of the infirmary, was the most terrifying thing he could imagine, and he shuddered imperceptibly, trying to still the panic that frosted his insides.

"What, no. You're still recovering," Hunk said.

"I can walk now. Plus I know a shortcut to get closer to the Gryffindor dorms. Please." His voice sounded too desperate, and he could hear his panic shining through his attempts at level-headedness. The others looked at one another skeptically. Pidge observed him with thinly veiled pity.

"Um, okay, but like, you're gonna have to come back on your own, dude," Lance said. "Can you manage?"

"Yes."

\---

"How could I let this happen? Oh my god we're gonna get in so much trouble you guys. What if we get caught? What if we die out here? What if there's an evil monster that roams the halls at night and eats poor defenseless children?" 

"Hunk, shut up. Please," Lance heard Keith whisper forcefully from behind him. "Your panicking is gonna get us caught!"

 Keith motioned down the hall wildly and the other children followed him.

"Wait. I hear something. Come behind here," Pidge said. The three children ducked behind a door, listening to the thump of hurried footsteps down the hall.

"Alright let's go." Keith pointed down the hallway as the noise quieted and the kids began to move. They paused when they came to a room with muffled voices coming from it. A flicker of firelight glimmered through the crack in the door and cast shadows along the hallway. The children scrambled for silence as the voices became more distinct.

Lance narrowed his eyes. It sounded like two people. A young man and a woman. Something about the voices seemed strangely familiar, but they were spoken in hushed, urgent whispers, and it was difficult to make out who they could be. Keith looked up at him, an eyebrow raised, and pressed his ear to the door. Lance did the same, followed reluctantly by Pidge and Hunk. 

"I am much closer to gaining access to the quintessence," the young woman's voice whispered. "The lions will be almost impossible to get past, though."

"No. The black lion will yield to me. The other four will be forced to follow her lead after I can calm her."

"Then the rest will be easy," the woman hissed. 

"Yes. I can only be truly powerful once my mortality is eliminated. But, I still need a way in."

"Don't worry. We have time. There's a weakness in the castle's boundaries-the Forbidden Forest," the woman said. Pidge raised her eyebrows in alarm.

"Interesting."

A pause. Sniffing?

"I think I smell something. Something like...students. Out of bed." The woman's voice echoed ominously.

"Deal with them."

"Of course."

The kids looked at one another in horror, backing away from the door. They dashed down the halls, trying desperately to put some distance between themselves and the sinister voices they'd heard on the other side of the door.

Lance felt his eyebrows twitch with concern at the way Keith lagged behind, tripping over his feet with fatigue. Lance fell back with him, draping Keith's arm over his shoulders and pressing to his side in an effort to support him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Keith said through gritted teeth. But he didn't shake Lance off as they continued to run down the hallways. Finally, the four kids came to a stop a few yards away from the Hufflepuff dorms. Lance could hear the raggedness of Keith's breaths.

"You guys go ahead. I'm taking Keith back to the hospital wing," Lance said, tightening his grip around the other boy's waist. 

Keith scowled. "I don't need to be _babysat_."

"I'm not babysitting you, I'm _helping_ you, idiot."

Keith took a sharp breath. Uncertainty crossed his face and his eyes flitted up to Lance's and then back to the floor. 

Lance huffed in annoyance. "Whatever. Just c'mon, Keith." Keith let himself be guided back around while still held firmly in Lance's grasp. Triumphant, Lance started down the corridor before coming face to face with a stunned Professor Shiro. Professor Cain stood next to him, narrowing her eyes in surprise.

The four children regarded their teachers in shock, the silence desperately weaving itself through the hallway.

Shiro spoke first. "You know children aren't allowed out in the hallways at night..." He began quietly, carefully, his tone raw with disappointment.

Lance looked at the ground. In the dark, the stones in the castle hallways became large, unrecognisable black blobs.

"You students have been consistently undisciplined in the last few months," Shiro started. "And I am partly to blame for it. I feel like maybe I haven't properly instilled the dangers of misbehaving in you children, and I apologize for that." He looked truly distraught. Lance wanted to die. He glanced over at Professor Cain, who was watching the children with quiet sympathy. Surely she too understood the suffering that came with disappointing Shiro.

"But I can't let this one slide. Talking in class, skipping out on detention, missing classes to visit your friends," Shiro said, looking pointedly at Lance, "And now roaming the halls at night. Not to mention Keith is still recovering from his injuries." He shook his head. "This disregard for the rules can't continue. I'm docking you each twenty-five house points. And after Christmas break, the four of you will start castle-maintenance duties with Professor Coran. Am I clear?"

The four children stared, faces lit only by slivers of the crescent moon thrown haphazardly through the castle windows.

_Mierda_ , Lance thought.

\---

"Okay, so here's what I found on quintessence," Pidge said, setting a huge black book down on the library table with a loud thump. The school librarian, Professor Galley, looked over at them with a disapproving arch of his eyebrow and shushed them angrily.

_Sorry_ , Hunk mouthed back at him. Pidge rolled her eyes. "So, anyway. It's apparently this super rare, magical substance that's used in potions and is said to even be able to create a kind of magic that could replicate the effects of immortality."

"What do you mean 'replicate the effects?'" Keith asked suspiciously. 

"Well, you know, true immortality isn't real. But as long as you have quintessence, it's a constant source of magical energy and life. If you're injured, it'll heal you, if you're sick, it'll cure you. If you're old, it replenishes your youth," Pidge explained with a shrug. She continued, "Apparently, it's rumored that Altea is built over the largest source of quintessence in the world. It's actually what powers a lot of the castle's magical functions. It almost acts like an energy source, the lifeline of the castle."

"So whoever those creepy evil guys, are, they're going to try and steal some of it," Hunk said with a shudder. 

Pidge nodded. "The way they were talking, it sounds like the lions are guarding it."

Lance hummed in agreement. "It makes sense that they would be protecting the castle's energy source, since they're tied to it in a way. I mean, if the legend about them deciding on the location of the school is real."

"What do we do?" Keith asked, the most pressing question on everyone's minds coming to the forefront of the discussion.

"...I don't know," PIdge offered, scrunching up her face as if the words were foreign on her tongue. "I think we should wait until we know more. We don't even know who those people were, and we might have taken things out of context. Their intentions might be good, as far as we know."

"Yeah, no. Those guys did  _not_ sound like they had good intentions," Hunk said, shaking his head.

"Well, whatever. If we try to tell someone about it right now, they'll think we're trying to get out of our punishment...Actually, now that I think of it," she began, and Keith could see an idea forming in her mind, "We should wait until after break to ask Coran some questions. He knows everything about the castle."

"That sounds good," Lance nodded, tipping back in his chair, with palms pressed to the table. 

"I'm so ready to go back home and just, eat chocolate pudding and fried fish with my parents," Hunk said, sighing longingly. 

Pidge smiled. "Yeah. It'll be good to take a break from all this evil magic drama. My brother's coming back from his magical studies in Europe for Christmas."

"What are you guys doing?" Hunk asked, turning to Lance and Keith.

"Oh, um, I'm probably just gonna, stay here?" Keith said awkwardly. Christmases at the Yamada household were stiff, formal affairs, and the air was always thick with swirls of anxiety and unwarranted apprehension. He had no desire to return home for that lovely experience.

"Yeah, I'm staying, too," Lance said casually, and Hunk and Pidge looked at him, surprised. 

"Reallly? You're not going home to hang with your family?" Hunk asked.

"Nah, I don't really feel like going home this Christmas. It's my first year here. Gotta live it up, you know?" He grinned, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair.

"Don't you miss them?"

"Yeah, of course. But I'll see them in the summer. Plus I was thinking I could do some research on the lions and quintessence and stuff in the library here."

Pidge grinned wickedly. "You sure it's not...to keep Keith company?"

"What, no! No way," Lance said, glaring. " _Lame,_ Pidge."

Keith scowled, feeling a tingle of warmth in his cheeks as the other two started snickering.

Pidge regained her breath while Hunk smiled dreamily. "Aw, Lance, that's so sweet."

"Shut up! I didn't even know Keith was staying!"

"Hey, guys." A familiar voice rang from behind Keith. It was Camila, Lance's older sister. She took a seat next to Lance at the library table and elbowed her brother gently.

" _Qué tal?_ " she asked.

"Mm.  _Bien,_ " Lance muttered absently, although his outraged expression seemed to contradict his response.

Camila raised an eyebrow. "Oookay. You sure about that?"

"He's fine," Pidge said, rolling her eyes. "We're just teasing him and Keith about staying home for Christmas."

Camila grinned. "Oh? Yeah, I heard about that. _Apparently_ , he wants to spend more time at the library," she punched Lance lightly. "Nerd."

Lance groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

"At least he'll have someone to keep him company," Camila added, with a nod to Keith. "I was so worried about my little brother, Lancey-wance, all alone on Christmas."

"Cami!"

\---

 Keith blinked awake, shifting his weight onto his hands as he rolled up. He was instantly hit with a wave of nausea. 

"Urghhh..." He vocalized his pain and his eyes fell on a goblet on his bedside table. There was a hastily scrawled note next to it that Keith let his eyes quickly pass over:

_Dear Keith,_

_Thought you might be needing this, so I asked the house elves to bring it up. Merry Christmas!_

_-Shiro_

Keith peered into the goblet, and sure enough, it was filled with a familiar gray liquid and let off a faint blue smoke. _Wolfsbane,_ he thought gratefully. He took a sip, grimacing at the now familiar taste of old, burnt rubber that lingered on his tongue. Lance snored rhythmically in the bed beside him.

The other two beds were empty. Craig and Thomas had gone off to be with their families for Christmas, and Keith hated to admit it, but Altea was not nearly as fun with so few people around. It was weird not to wake up and see the tops of Craig and Thomas' heads poking out from the blankets across from him: the voluminous, thick black cloud atop Craig's head, "more air than hair," he liked to say, or Thomas' luscious golden locks, curling up in tangled ringlets on the pillow. 

It was weird to head down to breakfast without Pidge and Hunk waiting for them. It was weird to eat his pancakes without Pidge waving an article from _The Daily Prophet_  in his face while Hunk simultaneously marveled at the joys of of breakfast food. Ketih was a creature of habit, and he realized with a quiet pang that he had formed several new ones during his time at Altea. He finished the last of his potion, feeling the nausea fade. 

"Lance. Wake up." Lance blinked an eye open and glared at Keith. 

"What?"

"Merry Christmas," he said clumsily, tossing his pillow at Lance in an attempt to cover up his awkwardness.

"Yes, presents!" Lance was awake now. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, stretching his long limbs like a cat and yawning. He grabbed a present from the foot of his bed and started to unwrap it. Keith followed his example, looking down at the foot of his own bed and lifting up a big, heavy gift. He peeled away the paper uncertainly, and a fat dictionary tumbled out. The note inside said:

_Dear Keith,_

_I hope you're doing alright, and that you're not neglecting to exercise your mind while you're off making spells and potions and all those things. Mike just won second place in the national spelling bee. Maybe this will inspire you to work harder. Stay safe!_

_Love, Aunt Lauren and Uncle Steve_

Keith stared at the note, then back at the dictionary. Aunt Lauren and Uncle Steve were as predictable as ever. He felt almost like laughing out loud. Almost. He reached for Mike's present next, a significantly thinner, smaller, gift. He smiled in recognition as a comic book appeared behind the ripped wrapping paper.

_Dear Keith,_

_I thought you might not have access to comics over at Altea, so I took the liberty of sending you my copy of the newest installment. This volume was amazing. My favorite yet. Are you getting in the Christmas spirit? We sure aren't!_

_Miss you, Mike_

Keith smiled at the note and laughed (somewhat bitterly) at the picture that Mike had doodled in the corner; it showed a grumpy Aunt Lauren and Uncle Steve dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

"Hey dude. Did you see what Pidge got you?" Lance asked from his bed, fiddling with some kind of sheer fabric. Keith quirked an eyebrow, then reached over to grab Pidge's present. When he opened it, it revealed the same strange cloth. The note read:

_Hey Keith,_

  _Merry Christmas. I've been messing around with some new spells recently, and I found a really strong charm that can be used to create an invisibility cloak. Neat, huh? Maybe next time you decide to roam the halls at night, you won't get detention._

_-Pidge_

Keith looked up at Lance, who was nothing but a floating head, clutching his own cloak around him and grinning wickedly. "This. Is awesome." Keith nodded in agreement.

Hunk had sent him an autobiography of Martin Braddock, a wizard well-known for having spent more than twenty years of his life on a broomstick. Keith chuckled quietly, opening  the second box from Hunk. It was filled with food he had sent from home: pies and cakes and tons of baked goodies. Keith grabbed a pastry and took a bite. It melted in his mouth, laced with a nutty lightness and a delicate sprinkling of cocoa. 

"Lance." Keith offered up the box to his friend, but Lance had already shoved two brownies in his mouth and was trying to get them down at the same time. He grinned around the chocolatey treats. 

"Open mine," he said sneakily, pointing at a small square gift in Keith's pile.

Keith opened it, aware of Lance's eyes on him. It was a chess set. Thirty-two gleaming black and white pieces, carved out from stone.

"Uh, thanks," he said, politely hiding the fact that he had no idea how to play chess.

"It's wizard chess. I _could_ teach you how to play with my chess set, but every witch or wizard needs their own in order to become really good."

Keith smiled. "Y-you're gonna teach me?"

"Duh. It'll be super fun. I'm gonna kick your butt. Repeatedly."

"Well as soon as I learn how to play, you'll be the one losing."

"A student is only as good as his teacher, dude."

Keith threw another pillow. Lance laughed. "Dude, you need to stop giving me all your pillows. Your dreams will be plush-free."

Keith attempted a glare but failed. "Open mine," he said nervously. Lance obliged, eyes lighting up as they fell on a box of cauldron cakes.

"Yes! Thank you so m-" he paused when a glint of gold caught his eye from under the cakes, and he reached down to pull out the golden Snitch, eyes wide with wonder. For once, he was speechless. 

"Keith wha-? Is this, _dios mio_...I-thank you," he breathed excitedly.

"They gave me the Snitch that I caught in the match against Slytherin," Keith said. "I thought you'd like it. 'Cause you like quidditch and stuff. And I wanted to thank you...for bringing me all my homework and...skipping classes to hang out with me. Even though you really shouldn't be doing that." Keith stared at his sheets, blushing with embarrassment.

Lance was a similar shade of red. "Ugh, you got that? What Shiro said about me missing classes? I was kinda hoping it would go over your head."

Keith, who was running out of things to throw at Lance, grabbed the empty goblet from the side of his bed and tossed it half-heartedly. "Nothing goes over my head, idiot."

"How about this!" Lance yelled as he tossed the Snitch over Keith's head. Keith reached up and caught it neatly in his left hand, smirking. 

Lance pouted.

\--- 

"Zarkon hasn't been in the news a lot lately," Pidge said, eyes roving over the paper. "His last major blow was at the ministry. I mean, there have been several small attacks on muggle populations and mixed wizarding communities, but I feel like they're usually much more frequent than they have been. He's definitely planning something big."

Hunk chewed thoughtfully. "I mean, this is just a hunch, but, do you think he's behind that creepy evil plot thing that we overheard?"

"Possibly. I mean, there are a lot of people out there who might just want to steal the quintessence for, you know, the sheer amount of power and magical influence it provides, but, then again, something about the way that guy said...'truly powerful'...He's after more than just immortality."

Lance nodded. "No one else is as powerful or has as large an influence as Zarkon," he said, a surge of anger rushing to his face and clutching at his insides. "With immortality, he could become, like, a _God_. An evil, family-destroying, civilian-killing, people-hating God." He spat out each word like it was poison.

Pidge looked up from the article, a flicker of concern in her eyes. She placed a hand on his shoulder. 

"It's okay, Lance. We're not going to let Zarkon, or whoever this guy is, get ahold of the quintessence."

"Yeah," Hunk said, patting his back, "We just gotta find out more about it, and then we can tell Professor Allura. She'll know what to do."

Pidge drew her hand away with a smile, and then paused, confusion flitting across her face. 

"Where's Keith?"

"Wha-oh, he's not feeling well. He gets sick a lot. And it's always, like, at the end of the month or something, like he's on some kind of cycle," Lance answered, absently gazing out the window.

Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Oh? That's...weird." 

\---

"Pawn to E4," Lance said confidently. His pawn moved to E4. "Okay, see? That move puts my pawn in the path of your bishop, because the bishop moves diagonally," he explained, pointing out the pieces on the board. The tiny stone pawn looked up at him, scandalized, for his sacrifice was the ultimate form of betrayal.

"Okay..." Keith said. "Uh, bishop to E4?" His bishop fixed him with a critical stare, eyebrows raised. Keith glared at him. "What? Bishop to E4."

"You gotta be more forceful."

"Bishop to E4!" The bishop moved.

"Haha, knight to E4. You walked right into my trap." Lance smirked, rubbing his hands together. 

Keith scowled. "Enjoying yourself, are you?"

"Immensely."

"Well, don't get used to it," Keith growled. He studied the board. "Rook to A5," he said. His rook shook its head, exasperated, and walked over to A5, where it knocked one of Lance's pawns out and dragged it to the side.

Lance sighed. "Bishop to A5."

"Ugh. Forget it! I can't do it," Keith said angrily. He crashed his fist on the table, neck prickling.

"You  _can_. You just have to, like, strategize, you know? Stop sacrificing your more valuable pieces just to catch pawns. Pawns aren't that important," Lance said. His pawns turned to him, glaring. "Uh, _you_ guys are, of course. I mean, every little bit counts, am I right? I need you guys, I love you guys, you're the best." He leaned down to the table, smiling and cooing at his chess pieces. The whole scene was faintly ridiculous. His pawns turned away, appeased.

Keith winced, remembering the reactions he used to get when he messed things up at home. Aunt Lauren would twitch with faintly concealed frustration, the muscle in her jaw jumping frantically. Uncle Steve would scowl faintly, his voice rising aggressively everytime Keith failed or made a mistake.

"Y-you're not frustrated with me? For not getting it right? Aren't you annoyed?" he asked.

Lance stared. "Uh, why would I be? You can't be good at _everything_ , Keith. It's just a game."

Keith was quiet. "...Okay."

"It's your move."

"Um. Knight to D7."

"Aw, _man_. See, you're already improving."

"Whatever."

\---

"Alright, children. Time to journey into the  _Forbidden Forest._ Today, we'll be collecting food for Altea's school pets," Professor Coran said with a hearty chuckle. The sun sparkled down on the children through the trees as they ventured further into the woods, and Lance shivered as he recalled the conversation he and his friends had overheard about four months ago, the night Shiro had sentenced them to castle duties with Coran.

"School pets?" Pidge asked with sharp interest. "You mean the lions?"

Coran started, looking down at Pidge with surprise. "Erm, well, most people don't believe in the lions, and we tend to encourage that. It's always good to maintain an aura of mystery around the school."

"But the lions are real, though, right?" Pidge asked bluntly.

"Well...yes," Professor Coran said solemnly. "They are indeed. I take care of them," he added proudly. "And, in return, they care for the castle."

"How do they do that?" Hunk asked, shying away from a tree branch that blocked his path. 

"Well, they  _protect_ the school. In a way," Coran said. "But that's a secret."

Pidge looked at Lance knowingly, mouthing " _quintessence_."

Professor Coran suddenly stopped. "Okay, shh. Shh." He pointed to a swampy area. There was a knobby little creature standing near the swamp, snarling at its reflection in the water. "That, my students, is a kaliwog. They like to hang around wet areas. Unfortunately for them, they also tend to become quite agitated by their own reflections, and often end up drowning themselves. They're not the brightest of creatures, but the lions love them. Plus, they're very rich in protein." He pointed his wand at the little creature, shouting, " _Stupefy_!" The creature, stunned, fell backwards. Coran picked it up and tossed it in a burlap sack.

"Try to catch as many as you can. Let's go a little further this way."

"Professor Coran," Pidge began. "Tell us more about the lions."

Coran smiled. "Well," he began. "I've known the lions since I started teaching here. There's Ebony, the large black one." Lance exchanged a glance with Pidge.

Coran continued. "She's the leader of the lions. She's very high-minded but also surprisingly gentle at times. There's Amber, the yellow one, who's sweet and caring. A little bit paranoid sometimes, but she looks out for others. Jade is the green one. She's inquisitive as always. She likes new things, to find out how they work, and how she can make them work." Coran stopped, a glimmer of respect in his eyes, then casually shot a spell at a kaliwog. It went flying through the air, right into Lance's arms. He blanched at the feeling of its leathery skin on his.

"Uh, Professor..." Coran opened the bag and Lance tossed it in, shuddering.

"Go on," Pidge said. "This is cool."

"Ah yes. We have Garnet, the red lion. She's incredibly stubborn, and probably the least friendly of the five. However, she's also fiercely loyal and very capable. Then there's Lapis, the  _most_ friendly of the lot. She's very proud and can be a bit of a diva, but she loves unconditionally, and is so much smarter than she likes to pretend."

"You know them really well," Hunk said, almost wistfully.

"Yes. The lions are known for their excellent judge of character. They can read humans easily and only those with the purest hearts and the best intentions can interact with them safely. They also tend to form very important bonds with a very rare, select few."

"What do you mean?" Pidge asked.

"Well, each lion is drawn to different, special traits in a person. Now, this is very unusual, but when a person possesses these qualities, they form a bond with the lions that cannnot be broken, no matter if the person's heart or intentions change. The lions are forever loyal."

Lance shivered, recalling the foreboding voice that had crept along his spine that night in the hallway.  _The black lion_ _will yield to me._

\---

"Well, we learned a lot today. Whoever's trying to steal the quintessence must have formed a bond with the black lion in the past, and that's why he thinks the lions will let them do whatever they want," Pidge said. The four children were on their way back to their respective dorms, having just finished dinner. 

"You think the lions are the only thing guarding the quintessence?" Hunk asked. "'Cause, I mean, if the lions keep their bonds forever, then like, that would be a dumb idea."

Keith nodded darkly. "We should tell someone. Maybe Shiro?" The others nodded begrudgingly. Keith looked over at Lance, who had just slipped his hand in his pocket to rummage around for something. A look of confusion passed over his face, scrunching up his features, before giving way to alarm. Lance pulled his hand out of his pocket.

"Guys, guys, I think I left something in the Forbidden Forest. We have to go back."

"What? Are you serious?" Keith rounded on him, annoyed.

"Yes. I am so, so serious." Lance sounded almost panicked.

"Dude, chill. We can go ask Coran to come and help us find it tomorrow," Hunk said.

"No no no, we have to go now. Please," Lance pleaded. "I can't go alone."

The three kids looked at one another uncertainly.

"Fine."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

\---

The four children wandered through the forest. The sky was already smudged black with tiny white stars blinking unsteadily in the dark.

"I  _know_ I dropped it here somewhere," Lance was muttering under his breath while the other kids frowned, watching him.

"Can you please just  _tell_ us what you're looking for so we can like, help you?" Keith asked in a whisper, exasperation bleeding into his tone.

"Um, I-aha! Found it!" Lance whispered, triumphantly lifted a pentagon-shaped card, glinting in the faint moonlight.

Keith's eyes widened. "A chocolate frog card. You made us come all the way out here for a  _chocolate frog card_? What is wrong with you?"

Lance glared, stuffing the card into his pocket. "Shut up, Keith. I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"There's not much to get. You're an idiot. Done," Keith hissed, anger clenching in his stomach. 

Lance gritted his teeth angrily. "It's not like I forced you to come!"

"Yeah, you did, actually. You put us all in danger, Lance! It's called the  _Forbidden_  Forest for a reason."

Lance glared, eyes stormy, face half in shadow.

"Guys!" Pidge whispered forcefully. "Someone's coming!" She grabbed the two boys and shoved them behind a bush where she and Hunk sat nervously. Pidge tapped each of their heads. " _Disillusio_ ," she whispered. Keith shivered, feeling as though a raw egg had just been broken over his head. He felt the effects of the spell trickle down his back and looked at his arms, which had blended in with the surrounding forest. 

The children watched as a cloaked figure approached from deep in the forest, while another, face shadowed in the night, approached from the school. They came to one another a few feet away from the children. Keith's heart was in his throat.

"Haggar. You've done it. Lowered the defenses just enough for me to get through. You are my loyal servant as always."

"Of course." 

The voices sounded familiar. Keith was certain he'd heard them somewhere before.

"Now, we must hurry. Allura may have noticed a shift in the castle's security," the man said. He shifted, removing his hood, and his face became visible. He was attractive, with pale blond hair that looked gray in the starlight, dark, angled eyebrows, high cheekbones, and a pointed chin. His features were sharp, menacing in their clear-cut beauty, in their inhuman perfection. Keith heard Pidge gasp quietly in his ear.

"Guys. We _have_ to get out of here."

"What is it?" Keith asked.

"That's.  _Zarkon_."

Keith's heart stopped. He'd seen that face in the newspapers, grinning with the same psychotic pleasure, but he never thought he'd see it in person, no less than ten feet away. His breaths desperately clawed their way out of his throat.

The woman began sniffing the air.

"Haggar. You smell something? Some _one_?"

"Yes." Haggar turned around, revealing her face to the children. Keith covered his mouth in surprise, feeling Pidge's hand tighten around his wrist. Professor Cain's face, twisted with hatred, shone in the moonlight.

She sniffed. "I smell... _her_." Her voice curdled poisonously on the word, "her," as though it simultaneously disgusted and pained her to have to say it. "He's here."

Zarkon raised an eyebrow, confusion crossing his face for a moment, before a slight realization glittered in his gaze and his face changed, almost as if he were pleasantly surprised. "Oh? Where?"

Keith gasped as an iron grip closed around his arm.

Professor Cain (or Haggar) dragged him out from behind the bush. Zarkon looked amused.

"Well, well. Can't have you hidden like that. Let me get a good look at you." He tapped Keith on the head with his wand.

"...Beautiful."

Haggar's grip tightened on Keith's arm, and he squeaked.

"Let me kill him," she said.

"No," Zarkon said, sounding bored. "I like him. I'm keeping him."

Haggar glared. "He will never join you, Zarkon. He is too much like his _mother_."

"Yes. And that's what I want. Although-" Zarkon darted forward, hands like ice closing around Keith's neck. Keith choked for air, eyes wide.

"Look. He's scared. A coward," Zarkon said with mock pity. "Just like his father was."

Zarkon let go, smiling coldly, and Keith coughed violently.

"Oh how I long to see you again, my Ebony," Zarkon whispered softly, looking up at the castle. He began walking towards it.

"Bring the boy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a while, sorry.  
> Are you guys following all the random threads here? I feel like there's way too much info to keep track of but idk
> 
> So, uh:  
> Hola, hermano-Hello, brother (sup little brah)  
> Oye-Hey  
> Mierda-Shit (I feel like Lance would start cursing first, cuz he'd think it's funny and cool, plus he has older siblings)  
> Qué tal-What up? How ya doin?  
> Bien-GOOD but my whole life is ending rn, i dont know how to deal with feelings im so gay  
> Dios mio-omg


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quintessence stuff plus evil Zarkon and hardcore bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry this update took so long! I know I kinda left y'all hanging for a moment there. But basically, my familia moved and we had no wifi for a couple days so yeah, idk how I survived tbh.  
> Anyways enjoy!

"Oh my god, oh my god. This is all my fault. This is all my fault," Lance whispered, shaking Pidge by the shoulders.

"Um, it's not  _entirely_ your fault?" Pidge said, awkwardly pushing her glasses further up her nose.

"We gotta go after him."

"You don't see me arguing."

Hunk nervously stood up from behind the bushes, grabbing Pidge's arm for support. "Ok. Let's go."

\---

The three kids snuck back into the school and down to where they knew the secret passage was. Pidge silently cursed herself for forgetting to bring her invisibility cloak, and Hunk muttered worriedly under his breath. Lance was uncharacteristically quiet.

This time, when they cautiously stepped into the room with the lions, they found them prowling the corners of the room, on edge, their colored coats glittering with each restless movement they made. Zarkon had come through already. The four lions paced agitatedly around Ebony, who lay in the center of the room. It was clear they had disagreed with her choice to allow Zarkon to pass, but could do nothing about it.

Lapis, the blue lion, nudged Lance with her nose, and he followed her over to where Ebony lay, staring up at the children through slitted eyes. Lapis butted Ebony with her head, almost as though she were imploring her to move, and Ebony gave in, shifting her weight begrudgingly. She had been covering a wooden trapdoor. Lance lifted his gaze to Lapis, gratitude bright in his eyes, and hurriedly jumped through the door, landing hard on his feet below.

\---

"L-La-Lance." A voice drifted in the air around him.

"Where are you going, Lance?" It was dark and the air was heavy with white mist. He could barely see two feet in front of him.

"Are you worried about your friends?' The mysterious voice ricocheted off the walls, echoing back at him like a crowd of people.

"Um, yeah?" he shouted back. "Pidge! Hunk!"

"Why? They're fine without you...you'll only endanger them more," said the voice, teasing, playful.

"What?"

The voice bounced back at him, innocently sweet. "Isn't it  _your_ fault they're here in the first place? Isn't it your fault, your fault, your f-"

"No! I mean...yes."

"Aw, Lance. It's okay. You can't help that you'll never be as smart as Pidge, as kind as Hunk, or as brave as Keith..."

"That doesn't mean I can't help them..." Lance trailed off, eyes heavy. The voice reached out like a hug, enveloping him in white, smoky comfort. Something like a hand was closing around his wrist, raking through his hair, encircling his waist...

"Don't you understand Lance? You're just holding them back. You'll only put them in danger. Why don't you just stay here? With us," the voice breathed. "You won't have to worry about keeping up anymore. You won't have to be scared about losing anyone else. That's what you want isn't it? That's what you fear..."

"I'm not scared," Lance managed to slur out, faintly registering the way his legs collapsed beneath him.

"Of course not. They don't need you, and you don't need them. You're better off all by yourse-"

"Lance! Lance! Are you okay?"

Lance jerked to attention. Hunk stood before him, limping slightly on what looked like a cut leg while holding a slightly distressed Pidge under his arm.

"Hunk? Wha- what just happened?"

"The mist. It's an enchantment meant to split us up by turning us against one another. It feeds off of your greatest fears and then traps you in an endless sleep!" 

"Oh, whoa, dude. Is your leg hurt?"

"Yeeeah. I had to fight some sketchy fog monster to be able to come find you guys. Pidge was already asleep when I found her."

"Are you okay, Pidge?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah I'm...fine." Pidge was visibly shaken. "We have to find a way out."

Lance frowned. Their vision was completely clouded by the mist. Unless...

"Glacius!" he shouted, and the surrounding mist solidified into ice crystals, fluttering down to the ground like snowflakes or curving into sparkling, icy shapes that dangled from the ceiling.

"There!" He pointed to a door that had become visible all the way across the room. 

"Nice."

\---

The children stood before the door. A series of intricate patterns and locks twisted across its surface, and when Lance tried it, it wouldn't budge.

"Slam your weight into it, dude," he said to Hunk, who obliged. Nothing.

'What are we gonna do? Nothing's working. Keith's in there," Hunk muttered, clutching his hands in front of his chest nervously.

Lance gripped his wand tighter. "Yeah. With _Zarkon_. He's gonna die because of me!"

"Guys, stop. You're not helping. Let me handle this." Pidge stepped forward. She mumbled some things to herself, counting the number of locks scattered over the door's surface and tracing patterns with her fingers. 

"There's an inscription down here. It says, 'Fear not, those of you who are trying, for hope can be found in the sign of the lion.'"

Lance furrowed his brow, deep in thought. "That's...kind of a bad rhyme..." he said, earning a swat on the arm.

Pidge studied the door again. "Well, there are twelve locks, so I'm guessing it has something to do with the zodiac, 'cause Leo is the sign of the lion. The only thing is, how can you tell which lock corresponds to which sign? They all look the same to me."

She went back to musing, eventually snapping her fingers together and grinning. "I got it! The lines on the door connect the locks linearly, in a pattern from one to twelve! And since Leo is the fifth sign..." She leaned down, following the pattern and examining the tiny inscriptions on each of the locks before she smiled and tapped the fifth lock with her wand, causing a loud noise to immediately rip through the air. Lance gasped at the impact, the sound ringing in his ears, and looked up. A silver key had risen from the ground with the explosion, but had thrown Pidge's delicate frame across the room. He dashed to her side, where Hunk already sat. He tried to ignore the stickiness of her blood around his feet as he slid to the floor, or the dull pain in her usually bright eyes. She looked so small at that moment, that Lance was suddenly reminded how...fragile she could be, despite all her confidence and intellect. A surge of protectiveness gripped his heart.

"I...wasn't expecting that one. Forgot to account for...booby traps. Those are the worst, dude," Pidge said, effort cracking in her chest with every strangled breath. The two boys huddled over her, exchanging nervous looks.

There was a prolonged silence, punctuated only by Hunk's muffled sobs as he tried to hide his face in his hands. Lance spoke first.

"I have to get Keith."

"I agree. You should go," Pidge said immediately.

"We can't! Pidge is too badly injured," Hunk countered.

"So I'll go alone. You take Pidge to the hospital wing." Lance shushed Hunk as he turned to him, distress overtaking his features. "I know you're hurt too, so don't try to argue with me. Just do it, Hunk."

"You can't face Zarkon alone! You'll die!"

"I have to get Keith. This whole thing is my fault. I'm going after him."

Hunk paused, looked like he wanted to say something else, but another rattling breath from Pidge changed his mind. He nodded. "I'll take care of Pidge."

Lance smiled tersely, fully aware that he was headed to his own death, then ran to the door, picked up the silver key, and turned the fifth lock.

\---

Lance found himself in a dimly lit, circular chamber with stone pillars all around the room. In the center of the chamber, he caught a glimpse of a small, black head of hair. He quickly ducked behind a pillar, leaning out to get a better look at Keith. He was crouching on the ground, hands and legs tied with ropes, anger twisting his face as Zarkon stood over him, smirking and twirling his long, slender wand. Haggar stood to the side, looking tense and resentful as she surveyed the scene. They stood beside a large goblet. It was filled with a glowing, light blue liquid. It was not unlike the sky, but possessed a more ethereal, impalpable beauty that seemed to suggest to Lance that it was not of this world.

He shimmied along the thick marble pillar, quickly leaping to the next one. He had to stay hidden until he could get close enough to try and reach out to Keith. The voices became clearer.

"-although, quite frankly I lost interest in you after having killed her. What a  _challenge_ she was. And now I have you, all to myself. You'll help me, won't you? It's in your _blood_. You can't deny your destin-"

"Eat rotten rat meat, Zarkon!" Lance burst from behind a pillar, and Keith looked up, relief and fear washing over his face in quick succession. Lance silently cursed himself as Zarkon's gaze raked the air, evil delight playing in his eyes. But he hadn't been able to help himself. Zarkon's voice, dripping with self-satisfaction and cruelty as he terrorized Keith, had prodded Lance in exactly the wrong way, fueling a stupid, burning rage. Emphasis on stupid. And now he stood before one of the most dangerous wizards in the world, the psycopathic killer who had taken and ruined countless lives. Lance balled up his fists. He would never be ready, yet here he was.

\---

Zarkon shoved Keith to the ground as they came to the final chamber, where the goblet of quintessence sparkled in the center of the room. Keith struggled to catch his breath as he felt a rib crack on the dirty stone floor. He mustered up his strength and turned, ready to push Zarkon to the ground and make a run for it.

Before he could attempt anything of the sort, however, Haggar had whipped her wand through the air, lashing Keith's arms and legs with ropes. He fell to the floor again. Zarkon had backed away and was humming a soft tune as he gazed down at the quintessence. "Ah, it's _beautiful_." He dipped his finger in, stuck it in his mouth, then scrunched it up animatedly. "Can't say much for taste, but, in a nice immortality potion, perhaps I can make it work."

He spun around like a little girl in a new dress and turned to Cain-the-traitor. "Haggar," he reached his arms out to embrace her, and pulled her into an awkward hug, tight against his bony collarbone. "You have done this for me. I won't forget."

"Yes, Lord Zarkon."

Keith glared. 

"Oh, the little boy's angry. My, my, how I missed _you_ ," he laughed sardonically.

"You don't even know my name!" Keith spat.

"You think I would forget? Keith _Kogane_?" Anger twisted his face into a harsh scowl, and he leaned down towards Keith. "You think I  _could_ forget?"

"How do you know who I am?" Keith demanded, fear welling inside his stomach at the way Zarkon's voice hissed in his ears.

"Me? I know  _everything_." Zarkon's face lit up as his smile curled up in an inhumanly long arc. "Let's play a game. I tell you something about your family, and you tell me something about Professor Allura and her precious Altea."

Keith stayed silent. Part of him willed Zarkon to keep talking. If he truly knew so much about his family, Keith wanted to know. Desperately.

"You want to hear more don't you? What shall I tell you? That your father left you? That your mother was once my most loyal follower?"

Keith winced. He croaked in response. "Y-you're lying. You're evil."

"Well, we clearly have different definitions of the word."

"No, there's only _one_ definition, and mine is right!"

Zarkon wasn't listening. He looked casually down at his nails, then back at Keith, smiling maliciously. "Oh, how I do like secrets. Secrets are fun. What do I reveal? How do I do it? So much to share, so _little_ time."

Keith stared. How could Zarkon possibly know so much about him? Unless he was bluffing. He was probably bluffing.

Zarkon seemed to follow Keith's train of thought, and raised a challenging eyebrow. "Oh, _I_  know. I'll tell you about the time your mother angered me, so I sent my  _wolves_  after her and her little _baby_." He paused, allowing the message to sink in.

Keith's eyes widened in horror. His hair stood on end and his heart threatened to leap out of his chest. "Y-you? You mean, it's...your fault. That I'm..." He tried to shake away the tears that laced his tone, opening up cracks in his bravery as he tried to rise to Zarkon's challenge, but he couldn't.

"Well, technically, my werewolves did the dirty work. But, I can't let them take _all_ the credit, now can I?"

Fury raged in Keith's stomach, threatening to boil over. "Because of you, I have to spend every full moon under an evil tree, trying to keep myself from biting my own arm off! I can't function for longer than a month without getting sick somehow, and I can't tell my friends the truth because they would be scared of me!" His words rolled off his tongue incessantly, a roiling hatred in his gut that he let spill out onto the chamber's dirt-smeared stones.

Zarkon looked down at him, face twisted in feigned pity. "Oh. Did I upset you? Why? Because no one will ever love you now? Because they're afraid of you even if they don't know it's you? You've done that to yourself," he snarled, disgusted.

Keith swallowed painfully. The anger in his stomach was now giving way to fear as Zarkon looked down at him, eyes glittering with malice. _Run_ , Keith's instincts screamed, and he struggled futilely against his bonds. Haggar broke in. A smile curled on her lips but her eyes crackled with hatred. "You were right to think they'd all fear you, _boy_. You may want to be one of them, but you'll always be _different_ ," she spat. "Your own father hated you."

She smirked, gaze flicking up to Zarkon for assurance, but he raised a hand to silence her. She looked at him darkly, then turned away.

Zarkon spoke again, suddenly calm once more. "You know, I'm still impressed your mother managed to escape that night and then keep you hidden away all these years. Although, quite frankly, I lost interest in you after having killed her. What a  _challenge_ she was." Zarkon smiled wistfully, a shadow flitting across his face, then looked mercilessly down at Keith. "And now I have you, all to myself. You'll help me, won't you? It's in your  _blood_. You can't deny your destin-"

"Eat rotten rat meat, Zarkon!" A familiar voice rang out from behind him, and Keith looked up in surprise.  _He came_ , Keith thought.  _He came._

_\---_

Lance's voice shook. "Leave my friend alone!"

Zarkon grinned, eyes returning to Keith's face. "Oh, and who's this? A friend? He doesn't know though, does he? About who you _really_ are. That's funny." Zarkon spoke directly to Keith, completely ignoring Lance.

Rage blistered in Lance's chest at the condescending way in which Zarkon spoke, but he kept his mouth closed. He saw Keith's eyes widen and needles prickled on his skin as Zarkon pressed a thumb to Lance's cheek. "I guess that means he can't really be your  _friend_ , then."

"I _am_ his friend!' Lance had no idea where this brave, new voice was coming from, but it seemed to be escaping from his mouth, spewing out like lava that had waited millions of years to break through the earth's crust.

Zarkon raised his eyebrows, amused. "Oh? And yet you know nothing about him. How _could_ you when he knows so little about himself?"

"I-I know that he's a huge _jerk_!"

Zarkon giggled with glee. "That doesn't sound like something a _friend_ would say."

"Well, I know he's a stupid perfectionist even though he's good at everything and he's super lame and can't take a joke! I know he likes quidditch and pastries and he's scared to be alone even though he pretends he likes it! And I know he'd  _never_ join forces with an evil killer like _you_!"

Keith was still on the ground, eyes following the interaction. The ropes restricted him, but gratitude shone in his eyes.

Zarkon smiled. "Cute. Maybe I'll keep you, too. We've met before haven't we? I've seen your face somewhere."

"No," Lance said through gritted teeth. "But you killed my fath-"

A strong hand closed around Lance's neck before he could finish, ice seeping into his skin as Zarkon lifted him from the ground. Keith gasped and desperately tried to wiggle out of his bindings, but Haggar waved her wand and immediately knocked him unconscious. Zarkon's cold gaze raked over Keith for a moment and then returned to Lance.

"Oh, now I remember. Your father, right? He was special. A challenge." His eyebrows drew together in a dangerous snarl.

Lance choked, his feet scraping the ground as he struggled to break free, and Zarkon smirked, dropping Lance on the floor. 

"I could break that skinny neck of yours if I wanted to. But I've decided I like you." 

Lance glared up at him. "Oh really? Well-I, uh, I don't like _you_!"

Zarkon laughed. It rang through the chamber harshly, banging off of the surrounding stones.

"Very well. I change my mind. _You_ can help me instead." Zarkon said, and Haggar grabbed Lance's arms, pressing her cold fingers into his bones.

"Wait, what? What are you-"

"Hm. It's such a shame, really," Zarkon said, looking down at Keith. "I had so much to tell him." He shrugged, raising his wand on the unconscious Keith. Lance's eyes widened. His breath disspiated from his body and his throat closed up in panic.

"N-no!" he managed to choke out, but Zarkon had already released the dreaded words. " _Avada Kedavra_!"

Lance thrashed out of Haggar's grip, his heartbeat jumping in his ears, a burning chill building in his chest as he leaped in front of the spell. Zarkon's eyes widened in absolute shock, then malice as he sneered at Lance. The spell shoved Lance into the wall and immediately bounced back at Zarkon, whose expression was engulfed in horror. His body soaked up the spell like a sponge, and he tumbled backwards into Haggar's arms. Lance crawled towards Keith, black spots dancing in his vision. There was a terrible pain in his chest where the spell had hit him and heat seared his insides. He peered at Haggar, who was leaning over Zarkon, desperately taking handfuls of the quintessence and washing his face with it. 

"No, no," she muttered distractedly. Lance squinted his eyes as the vision began to fade. Haggar grimaced, grabbed the goblet of quintessence, and, clutching Zarkon's broken body, disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The spots in Lance's vision grew larger until they enveloped him in darkness and his head hit the ground.

\---

The first thing Lance registered when he blinked his eyes open was a fluffy white blob, peering down at him, a little too close for his liking. He absently waved his hand in front of his face, mind still half-asleep and trying to find its bearings, when his fingers made contact with something warm and squishy. A familiar laugh blossomed from the squishy blob and the face pulled back.

"Shiro!" Lance shouted, sitting up eagerly and then wincing at the pain that shot through every part of his body.

"That's _Professor_ Shiro to you," Shiro corrected. He and Professor Allura were sitting by Lance's bedside. The uninhibited relief on both of their faces filled Lance with a tingle of warmth and he grinned.

"Sorry,  _Professor_." He ducked his head sheepishly.

"Lance," Allura said kindly, "I'm so glad to see you're alright."

"Uh, thanks, Prof-wait wait, how's Pidge? And Hunk! Is Keith okay?"

"Yes. You've been asleep here for almost a month. The other three have all been discharged from the hospital wing already."

Lance sighed in relief and fell back on his pillows.  _They're okay,_ he thought. And then:

"Wait, did you say a  _month_?" he asked in horror.

"Yes. I'm afraid so. We were almost worried that you wouldn't wake up. Your sister and friends have been visiting every day."

Shiro exchanged a glance with Professor Allura. "In fact, we had to practically threaten Keith with detention in order to chase him out of here just now," he said. 

Lance smirked, leaning back against his hands. "I don't think he really cares about detention."

"That's what he said at first, but then Pidge dragged him out."

Allura leaned forward, pressing her chin into her dark, cinnamon-brown hands. "Lance," she said seriously. "I know this may be a bit early, and I completely understand if you want to talk later, but Shiro and I really need to know what happened down there with you and Zarkon. Keith told us up until when he was knocked out. Other than that, we have no idea what happened."

"Are you okay telling us?" Shiro asked gently.

"Ye-yeah," Lance said. "I'll tell you."

\---

When he finished his story, Shiro and Allura stood looking at him in shock.

"So, yeah. They took the quintessence. And they got away. I'm sorry."

"No, there's no need to apologize," Allura said, shaking her head sternly.

"But, Pidge said the school functions off of that stuff. Like, it's super important."

"Yes. The school has relied on it for its basic magical energy, but Altea can still function easily without it. Our staff happens to be very talented, in case you hadn't noticed," Allura said proudly, sharing a smile with Shiro.

"Oh. So, that spell that Zarkon hit me with? That was a killing curse, right?"

"Well, from the incantation spoken, it seems so," Shiro said.

"But then, how come it didn't, you know, kill me? Did he like, mess it up, or something?"

Shiro paused, glancing over at Allura concernedly, then turned back to Lance. He laughed without humor.

"I have a hard time believing someone like Zarkon would mess up a killing spell."

"Then what was it?"

"Um, we're...not sure. But, I think it has something to do with your sacrifice."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Zarkon has been so alone for so long down the path of evil, he's lost the ability to understand human connection. When Zarkon, a person so truly evil and unstable, aimed to kill, the corrupted magic of his soul must have been affected by the purity of your bond with Keith."

Lance raised an eyebrow, confused. "What?" 

Shiro smiled, forehead creasing lightly. Allura rolled her eyes. "Lance, you used the oldest, strongest form of magic when you saved Keith: love."

Lance stared, mouth wide open in horror. His mind had hit a block when Allura used the words "love" and "Keith" in the same sentence.

" _What?_ " he repeated dumbly. Allura giggled delicately, trying to cover her mouth with her hand, while Shiro laughed out loud.

"Well, okay, you _care_ for him, then."

"What? I hate him! We're rivals!" Lance said indignantly.

Shiro calmed down, still looking amused. "Well, you clearly can't hate him  _that_ much if you're willing to step in front of a killing curse for him." 

Lance pouted, grateful that the other boy was not in the room with them at that moment, then asked, "Wait, so is Zarkon...dead?"

Shiro and Allura's expressions turned grave. "We doubt it," Allura said quietly. "He hasn't staged any attacks in the past month since your confrontation, but if Cain managed to escape with the quintessence, she'll most likely be able to revive him."

"So, he's going to be  _immortal_?" Lance asked in horror.

"Well, no, the quintessence is a small component of a potion for immortality, and its contents are almost impossible to find. But...I doubt he is dead."

Lance slumped forward and winced at the pain in his chest. He pressed a hand to his heart as he struggled for breath and noticed a long gash protruding into his collarbone. He peeled his shirt away frantically and spotted three long gashes, bright red against the brown of his skin.

"They look like claw marks," Lance said, feeling sick to his stomach.

"That's where the spell caught you isn't it? You've been touched by evil magic. I'm afraid that you'll have those scars forever," Allura said softly, sadly. "You're now always connected to Zarkon, alive _or_ dead."

\---

"Queen to D4." Keith's queen haughtily sauntered over to D4 and then turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. 

"Wow, your queen is _ice cold_ , dude," Lance said, knocking the tip of his pointer finger into his own queen's outstretched fist in some kind of mini fist bump. "Prepare to get wrecked."

Keith rolled his eyes. Normally he would respond with something biting and ill-tempered, but no phrase came to mind. He was still reeling with relief after finding out that Lance was _alive._  Now Keith sat in the hospital wing at Lance's bedside, unable to suppress his smile as he proceeded to "get wrecked" in an intense game of chess.

Lance smirked at Keith's silence and stared at the board, but his eyes seemed unfocused. He glanced up at Keith every few seconds, almost nervous as he fiddled with his sheets. It was strange to see Lance, who usually exuded confidence, acting so hesitant.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Keith asked.

"L-like what?"

"Like you're all nervous or something. What is it?"

"Um, well, I-I actually have something to tell you."

"Okay, tell me."

Lance pushed his bottom lip out thoughtfully, looking hesitantly at the floor before making up his mind and reaching over to his bedside table. He picked up a card and tossed it at Keith, who reached up to catch it in his hand, feeling the smooth surface, like it had been worn down after spending years in Lance's possession.

When he looked at it more carefully, he recognized the pentagon shape of a chocolate frog card and his mouth went dry when he realized what it was.

"This is the card you went back for..."

"Just read it, dude."

Keith looked dutifully down at it, eyebrows crinkling as his gaze fell on a handsome young man with sandy hair, a long, upturned nose, and a strangely familiar crooked grin. His blue eyes sparkled mischievously as he grinned and waved at Keith.

 _Christopher McClain_ , the name read. 

_Widely acknowledged as the most accomplished Auror of his time, Christopher McClain graduated from Altea School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and immediately went on to pursue a career in combating dark magic, eventually becoming the youngest wizard to ever be named head of the Auror's office. He captured many infamous dark witches and wizards, like Morgan Fay, Hugo Rune, and the great Morgon. McClain married Maria Sanchez, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, when he was 23 and the two started a family in upstate New York. Unfortunately, McClain passed away in a confrontation with the dark wizard, Zarkon, for whom he had been working tirelessly to put away in Azkaban._

"Your...dad." Keith didn't even bother to phrase it as a question.

"Yeah, he-he gave that card to me before he, uh..." Lance swallowed and looked down at his hands.

"Oh."

"He was a hero, you know? Zarkon threatened him by holding all these civilians hostage, and my dad walked into a trap just to save them, even though he knew he wouldn't...come back."

Keith stayed quiet.

Lance swallowed again. The words tumbled out of his mouth in a rush, like he was afraid Keith would get up and leave as he spoke. "And w-we didn't even get his body back. After Zarkon killed him, he was so angry the prisoners escaped that he fed my dad to his  _werewolves,"_  he spat out the last word with disgust and hatred, and Keith's heart skipped a beat. His breath died in his chest.

"All they found was his finger and his wand, broken in two. My mom, my siblings, we didn't even get to _bury_ him. My mom was so worried that Zarkon was gonna come after us, too, and I just-" Lance stopped abruptly, prodding and pulling on his sheets distractedly. He looked up at Keith for the first time since he had started talking about his father, and smiled. Keith knew better than to trust that smile. It covered the bottom half of Lance's face in brightness, but it never quite reached the darkness in his eyes.

"Eh, I guess I'm getting kinda boring now. Lame, right?"

"Lance-" Keith started, wanting to wipe away that dreadful smile.

"No, nope. I've heard it all before, seriously. Every single possible variation of 'Gee it sure sucks that your dad is dead,' so yeah, no thanks."

"I wasn't going to-"

"It's seriously fine, Keith."

"Um...I-" Keith began uncertainly.

"Ah ah ah. It's your turn."

"What."

"I just shared my life story with you. You owe me a secret."

Keith sighed, trying not to roll his eyes. "What do you wanna know?"

"How come you always get sick at the end of the month and you and Professor Shiro have like these weird secret meetings? And last month, I totally noticed that you weren't in your bed. Where did you go?"

 _Oh no,_ Keith thought. "I, uh..."  _I'm a werewolf._ The words danced on the tip of his tongue, almost like he wanted to say them. It's true, Lance had just spilled his guts out for Keith to inspect, and Keith wanted more than anything to _trust_ him. But...the friendship that they'd built up over the year, the warm feeling that Keith got when Lance smiled at him, the thrill of accomplishing something when they worked together. He didn't want those things to go away. And the sting of Lance's voice when he spat the word "werewolves" still wieghed heavily on Keith's heart. He blinked slowly.

"I, have...an illness." Was that a lie? He tasted the words as he forced them out, chalky and awkward. "I-It usually acts up on a monthly cycle, and, uh, Shiro makes a potion that helps me with the symptoms. And sometimes, I have to go to the hospital wing at night. I didn't want to tell you 'cause...I don't like to be babied, and I didn't want you to worry, I guess."

Lance snorted. "Like I would be worried about  _you_." 

Keith glared, trying to ignore the acid that ripped away his insides.

\---

Lance stood on the train platform. His sister Cami's arm was slung around him, and she peered around, searching for their family as Lance looked in the other direction, trying to locate Keith. Pidge and Hunk lived near him. He would see them all summer, but Keith...Keith lived in Virginia, which felt too far away.

He glanced around and caught a glimpse of a jet black mullet and pale, skinny hands. 

"Keith!" he shouted. He ducked out from under Cami's death grip and ran towards his friend, who had turned around nervously.

Lance grabbed his arm and leaned close to his ear so that the other boy could hear him over the sound of families reuniting. 

"I'll see you in September, dude. Don't forget to write me and stuff?"

Keith nodded while Lance was still leaned over him, and soft black hair brushed across his lips and tickled his nose. Lance jumped away quickly.

"Um, yeah, cool," he said, awkwardly tugging at the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

Keith grinned and punched him on the arm. "Don't forget about me this summer."

"Believe me, I wish I could."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun with Zarkon I just-he's completely different from in Voltron, lol, sorry
> 
> First year: DONE  
> *rubs back of neck like the hot shirtless guy from Mulan* "We've got a looong way to go"


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith meets Lance's family and there is fluff  
> KEith is super gay

Lance sighed loudly from where he lay on the floor of his bedroom. Hunk sat on the floor beside him, sketching on a piece of paper and penciling little notes in the margins. He looked up at the sound of Lance's groans and nudged him with his foot.

"What's up?"

"Nothing." Lance heaved another dramatic sigh. Pidge, who was stretched out on Lance's bed, reading, looked up from her book with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

"Well, it's clearly _not_ nothing," she said pointedly. Lance grinned crookedly up at her, then pushed himself into a sitting position, his hair still standing on end from where it had stuck to the floor. He glanced out the window then back at his friends.

"It's just...has Keith talked to you guys since summer started?"

Hunk paused, understanding lighting in his eyes. "Oh yeah. No, he hasn't. I sent him a letter like at the start of summer and another one like a week later and two more a couple weeks ago."

"What?" Lance asked, idnignant.  _How dare he ignore_ _Hunk!_

Pidge nodded. "Yeah, I didn't get a reply when I wrote to him either."

"I knew it!" Lance said. "He promised he'd write me." He crossed his arms over his chest, blowing out his cheeks and then pushing out his bottom lip petulantly.

"Stupid Keith. Thinks he's too good for us now."

"I hope he's okay," Hunk said, his brown eyes awash with concern.

"Yeah. I really can't see him just blowing us off like that," Pidge said thoughfully. She tapped a finger on her lip and then smiled, almost sneakily. "Maybe we should go check on him."

She looked directly at Hunk, like she was waiting for a specific response, and Lance noticed some kind of understanding pass between them.

Hunk cleared his throat, looking down at his paper. "I don't know, Pidge. We still have to like, test it and stuff."

"This can be our test run!" Pidge said, a little too excitedly.

Lance looked back and forth between the two, confused. "Whaaaat is going on right now?"

Hunk turned apologetically to Lance, holding up the drawings he had been sketching out before. They looked like, some kind of car?

"Uh, Pidge and I have kinda been working on something...big," he said. Pidge jumped nimbly down from the bed to sit on the floor between the two boys.

Her glasses glinted in the sunlight that streamed through Lance's window. "I have an idea."

\---

Keith glared out the window, boredom curling around his toes and nipping at his fingers. He had finished all his summer schoolwork, cleaned his room five times in the past week, and spent all morning amusing himself with an ant he had found crawling around near his desk.

He couldn't contact any of his friends. The first time an owl had come flying to his window, Aunt Lauren had walked in unannounced, only to immediately scream and topple over backwards at the sight of the "dirty, disease-ridden thing," as she described it later. So, birds weren't allowed in the house, and everytime the familiar rap of a beak on glass brought Keith's attention to the window, Aunt Lauren, who was able to pick up on the sound from any and all corners of the house, would appear in his doorway with a stern look and crossed arms, and Keith would miserably let the bird fly away. He tried to explain that this was the only way he could actually keep in touch with his friends, but his aunt and uncle wouldn't listen. "Just mail a letter normally," or "E-mail them," or "Why can't you just talk to each other on the phone?"

And to make matters worse, Keith had been shut up in his room for the past month, after he had had the active misfortune of standing in the kitchen when a fire had exploded to life. Uncle Steve was furious, and blamed it all on him, of course, but Aunt Lauren was more hesitant to shut him in his room, eventually caving in because she didn't want "to take risks." She was the one who ended up carrying Keith's meals up to him. She tried cooking all his favorite foods in an offering of peace, coming in with a guilty smile but leaving with a painful wince when he grumpily ignored her presence.

He had been let out exactly once, only to be locked in the basement on the night of his werewolf transformation. Of course he didn't blame them for that. He had honestly just been so excited to see another part of the house other than the inside of his room.

Mike was his only friend that summer. But he hadn't even been around very often. Mike was one year older than Keith: thirteen, which was officially the right age to start working, his aunt and uncle had said. So Mike had gotten a job scooping ice cream at the Carvel nearby and came home every evening smelling like sugar and stale wafer cones. He always volunteered to bring Keith's dinner up to him, and even though he wasn't allowed to go into Keith's room, he would do it anyway, shouldering his way past Keith's door and plopping onto the floor. Sometimes he would talk about work, the awkwardness of seeing a classmate there, or meeting a cute girl. But most of the time he would listen to Keith longingly ramble on about his friends at Altea, what they might be doing, how anxious he was to get back to school. Mike never took it personally. He was cool like that.

So Keith sat waiting at the window for his cousin, staring out at the darkening sky, when he noticed a familiar face on the sidewalk below. He gasped. It was Jason Collins, one of the few boys at his old school who had been nice to him, defending him against schoolyard bullies and seeking him out for class projects. Keith blushed, remembering with shame the way his heart rate used to skyrocket when Jason's fingers casually brushed against his arm. He raised a hand, about to call down a greeting from the window, but then noticed something. Jason was walking with a girl. A pretty girl. She talked animatedly and he was  _laughing_. Keith lowered his hand, electing instead to duck behind his window and hide from the boy who had once been his only friend.

He was a little quieter than usual while eating dinner. Mike, who, like him, had never been all that great with conversation, tried hard to fill the silence.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"I...miss my friends," Keith said. He remembered seeing Jason earlier and for some reason Lance's face came swimming into his vision.

"I know. The owl thing seriously sucks."

"Yeah." Lance grinned with self satisfaction in Keith's mind's eye, and he imagined what the other boy would say if he were there. "Aww, you miss me? Who wouldn't, with this beautiful face?" Keith's mental Lance said, wiggling his eyebrows. Keith rolled his eyes at the idea and clenched his fists, shaking loose the image of Lance from his head.

"You good?"

"Yeah."

\---

Keith was woken in the middle of the night by a quiet tapping on his window and he opened his eyes to find Lance's smirking face peeking in at him. Keith groaned, rolling over in bed. Okay, so either he was still dreaming or going crazy. But the tapping grew more insistent and he opened his eyes again. Lance was mouthing something on the other side of the window and Keith groggily ambled over to him, confusion masking his excitement at seeing his friend again.

"Keith, what the hell, man? Why've you been ignoring us? Anyway, it doesn't matter. We've come to abduct you."

"What? You can't just-" Keith's eyes widened when he realized that Lance was poking his head out of a blue car that was somehow right at the level of his  _bedroom window._ In a two-story house...

"Um," he managed.

"Oh, the car? Pidge and Hunk designed it and magicked it and stuff. Pretty cool huh?" Lance said, jerking his thumb back towards Pidge and Hunk, who wiggled their fingers at him, snickering.

Keith grinned, heart exploding in his chest. "I can't believe you guys, I mean. I-"

"Shh. Just hurry up and get your stuff so we can fly outta here," Pidge said bluntly.

Keith nodded, grabbing the suitcase that he had already packed for school and passing it to Lance through the window.

"Okay, c'mon." Lance gestured for Keith to hop in the car.

"Wait," Keith hissed, grabbing a piece of paper and pen from his desk and hurriedly scribbling something on it.

_Don't worry about me. My friends came to pick me up and I'm going with them. This way I won't be putting any of you in danger. I'll see you next summ-_

Before Keith could finish scrawling out the note, his door swung open behind him and Aunt Lauren stood there in wide-eyed shock. "Keith what-"

He groaned inwardly. Of course his aunt had heard the noise and come running. She was a light sleeper, with super-human hearing abilities and high anxiety to boot.

"Um." He swallowed. He ran forward, shoved the paper into her hands and then clambered through the window, Lance's surprisingly strong arms closing around his waist and pulling him forward. Keith's adrenaline was running high as he turned back to yell, "Bye, Aunt Lauren! I'll write you!" 

She stood still, completely taken aback.

"Keith! That car looks incredibly unsafe! You can't just go running headlong into danger like this!" Aunt Lauren was releasing a string of advisory exclamations, quickly falling into babbling territory as she fought to gain control of the situation. "You're being rash and you know it! I don't even know who these children are-"

"Sorry lady," Lance yelled back as Uncle Steve and Mike stepped into the room, blearily rubbing their eyes. Lance paused. "Uh, and family... We're just gonna be taking Keith now."

"See you guys next summer," Keith said, waving over Lance's shoulder apologetically. "I promise I'll write."

Aunt Lauren seemed to let go of her initial shock and rubbed her temples resignedly. "With normal mail!" she reminded him.

"Yeah, okay!"

\---

Lance listened to Keith recount the story of his summer as they flew through the skies. A burning irritation smoldered in his stomach at the thought of Keith getting locked up in his room for something he'd never even done. His annoyance faded however, when Keith's story ended and he began to make snarky comments about Lance's car-flying abilities. Lance angrily lashed back, once completely losing his concentration as he gripped the steering wheel too hard, pulling them into a jerky right turn that had Hunk vomiting out the window. Pidge took over the driving after that. They finally settled down about five hours later in an isolated, hilly area in Rochester, New York, Lance, Pidge and Hunk's hometown.

"Here's me and Pidge," Hunk said, motioning at two little houses at the bottom of a hill. Lance brought the car to a jerky stop and Pidge and Hunk clambered out.

"You too," Pidge said sternly, pointing at Lance.

Lance groaned. "Really, Pidge? You're gonna make me and Keith walk all the way up the hill to my house with all his luggage and everything?"

"It's our car!" Pidge said, annoyed. "And who said Keith is staying with _you_ , anyway?"

"Um, I did? We're bunk buddies! We aways share a room!"

"Well, Hunk's house has more space, you know."

"That's true," Hunk interjected helpfully.

"Not now, Hunk," Lance said, waving his hand absently. He glanced over at Keith, who remained silent. His usual annoyance at the group's antics seemed nonexistent, and in that moment, Keith smiled.

"Um, you guys. I really don't wanna be too much trouble or anything. I mean-" he said.

"Hush," Hunk laid a hand on Keith's shoulder. "No trouble, bro. Now tell us if you are opposed to staying at Lance's house, because Pidge or I could totally accomodate you."

"Um. I guess, I really don't mind rooming with Lance..." Keith trailed off, looking a little embarrassed, for some reason Lance couldn't be sure of.

"Ha. I knew it!" Lance wrapped an arm around Keith's neck and pulled him forward. " _Mi casa es su casa, mi amigo._ "

Keith rolled his eyes.

\---

As Lance led him cautiously through the house, Keith's gaze followed the shiny wooden curves of Lance's ceiling, the plush furniture, and the whirring magical objects that covered desks and tabletops. It was so much different from his own home, where everything was sharp lines and angles, the furniture and floor scrubbed to perfection, not a single thing out of place. Sure, Lance's house was clean and neat, for the most part, but there was an orderly chaos to it. Piles of papers and magazines were haphazardly thrown together on the coffee table, the sofa cushions were wrinkled and didn't match the couches, random musical instruments were strewn about the house, sometimes lying on the floor, sometimes propped up in the corner of some room. But what really struck Keith was the sheer amount of books. There was a book shelf in every room, including the kitchen and the bathrooms. The brightly colored tomes stuffed the bookshelves to brimming. There were piles on the tables, stacked on the floor; everywhere Keith looked, there was something to read. The house was so...comfortable, familiar. It felt like a home.

Lance steered Keith towards the kitchen, smiling brightly, but his smile faltered at the sound of angry footsteps.

"Ohh, nope, nope, nope. My mom's coming downstairs. Ha ha. I did _not_ think this through," Lance said, waving his arms in front of Keith in some vain attempt to cover him up.

"Lance! Where the hell did you go? I checked your bed when I woke up and you weren't there, and don't pretend you woke up early, because I know you're too lazy to get up on time in the summer," an angry voice called down the stairs to accompany the thumping, and the owner of said voice soon appeared. "You think it's funny to leave this house without telling your  _madre_ , you-" she stopped, staring at Keith. Keith raised a feeble hand in greeting.

"Hello," Lance's mom said cautiously. She kept her eyes on Keith, smiling measuredly, before flicking her gaze to her son. "Who's this?"

"Uh, this is Keith. My friend."

"Oh, Keith. That boy you talk about all the time."

Lance blushed, and Keith stared at the ground determinedly. A gentle hand warmed his shoulder and he looked up. He was greeted with a real smile this time.

"It's nice to meet you, Keith. I'm Maria, Lance's mother. You'll have to excuse my bad temper. I was...worried about this _half-wit_." She reached over to cuff Lance over the ear, and he pouted, grabbing the side of his head. Keith smiled. She was a very pretty woman, with a straight nose and a pointed chin. Her features had softened and blurred the slightest bit with age, and she had smile wrinkles around her mouth and hair the same tawny brown as Lance's. Her eyes were like his, too, dark and beady and bright, brimming with kindness and framed with long, thick eyelashes.

"Um. Can Keith stay with us? Like, 'til school starts?" Lance asked sheepishly, his smile guilty.

Maria looked at him suspiciously. "...Yes, I suppose that's alright. But you're responsible for him."

Lance nodded. "Yes, sir."

Maria smiled, unfazed. "Good."

"Thank you, Mrs. McClain," Keith said. Lance elbowed him.

"What?"

Maria smiled down at the two children. "It's Sanchez," she said. "I kept my name," she added proudly.

"Oh, uh, thanks Mrs. Sanchez-" Keith mumbled awkwardly.

They were interrupted by a clamor as four bleary-eyed children came cascading down the stairs. 

"Oh, hey Keith." Camila spoke first, her short wavy brown hair shifting around her shoulders as she tilted her head and waved uncertainly at Keith.

"What's goin' on?" A boy with big eyes and unruly dark hair asked.

"You can fill them in later," Mrs. Sanchez interrupted, placing a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Right now, I have to run to work." She leaned over, jabbing a quick kiss onto each of her children's faces, not even pausing before pressing one to Keith's unsuspecting cheek. Then she was flying out the door with a wave and a shout of, "I'll be back to make dinner. There's some leftovers in the fridge!"

The three younger children seated themselves at the table while Camila shuffled around the kitchen, grabbing a bunch of sausages and a pan, which she cracked some eggs into, brandishing her spatula like a sword. Keith took a seat beside the smallest child, a little girl who smiled up at him nervously. Lance ruffled a hand through her hair. "Hey there, Kitty Cat. You sleep alright?" She turned to face Lance and nodded seriously before looking back at Keith. 

"Who-who are you?"

"This is Keith. _Mi amigo,_ " Lance said eagerly. Keith smiled, trying his hardest to look friendly and not terrifying.

Lance pointed at each of his siblings. "This is Sammy," he said, pointing at the boy with big eyes and dark hair, who had spoken after Camila while tottering down the stairs. "And this is Sarah. They're coming to Altea this year." The two children were completely identical. The only difference between them was that Sarah's hair was slightly longer than her brother Sammy's, but when she tucked it behind her ears it looked almost the same.

Lance then placed a hand on the youngest girl's head and Keith couldn't help noticing that she was the only one of her siblings to have inherited her father's sandy blond hair and light blue eyes.

"And this is Catalina," Lance said, scrunching up his nose at the little girl and pronouncing her name with relish. She giggled. "You can call her Cat."

"Hi," Keith said, almost nervous.

"Oh, and there's also Lucas, but he's like twenty now, so he lives on his own. In New York City, where the Ministry is. You'll probably meet him at some point. He visits a lot."

"I thought the Ministry would be in D.C.?" Keith asked.

"Nah, that's the muggle government, dude. New York is where the _real_ magic happens," Lance said proudly.

"Hell yeah," Camila said, reaching a hand behind her back to high five Lance, never taking her eyes from the pan of eggs and sausages.

The twins looked at each other slyly, then turned to Keith. "So, you're the guy Lance keeps complaining about, right?" Sarah asked, elbowing Sammy.

"Oh, yeah. 'Omg you guys, Keith totally did that spell better than me today, my whole life is ruined,'" Sammy mimicked, pressing his hands to his face in mock distress.

"Shut up," Lance growled, glaring. The two shrugged in unison, then turned to Camila. "We're hungry," they whined, again in unison.

Camila turned to stick her tongue out at them. "Well, then you can eat last. That's for whining."

"Oh no, sweet sister. We never wanted to offend you. We simply meant that it is such joy to eat your cooking that waiting is too painful to endure," Sarah said, clasping her hands together. 

Camila raised an eyebrow. "Nice try."

Keith grinned, noticing out of the corner of his eye that Catalina was prodding Lance's shoulder and whispering something in his ear. Lance met Keith's gaze and he grinned. 

"Cat wants you to know that she's six years old, already, aaaand she also wants to know if she can pet your hair."

"Um, what?"

"Dude, just let her touch your head." Lance said, smirking at Keith. He frowned back at Lance, but then swallowed, lowering his head. "Uh, okay."

A tiny hand ran its way through his hair, and the little girl gasped. "It's...l-like a kitty!"

Sarah, Sammy, and Lance snickered across the table.

\---

"Okay, so like, you have to help with chores. Every one has to do their part in this household, blah blah, etc.," Lance explained to Keith as he dragged him out to the backyard.

"So...we're gardening?"

Lance scrunched up his face at Keith's skeptical tone. "Um...yes? Weeding! It is a job reseved only for the strongest!"

"Um."

"Dude, you just grab these lame green thingies by the roots," Lance said, pulling up a weed and pushing it into Keith's face. Keith shoved him back and scowled. 

"I know how to weed."

"Okay, cool. Then do it. I bet I can pull up more weeds than you!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! Bring it on, _Keith_!"

Keith glared and turned to the garden, immediately getting on his hands and knees, pulling up weeds with a crazed vigor. Lance glared, turning back to his own patch.  _Can't let him get ahead,_ he thought, fury pumping his weed-killing spree.

He was interrupted from his weed hunt about an hour later when Keith gasped and jumped backwards. 

" _No me toques, pendejo_!" a little voice squeaked from the bushes.

"What the hell is that!?" Keith asked nervously.

Lance looked over, registering the ugly garden gnome that shook its fist at Keith from the foliage. "Ugh, stupid gnomes," he muttered, grabbing the thing by its ankles and spinning it around his head, sending it soaring over the garden fence.

Lance laughed when he turned back to Keith, who was still sprawled in the dirt, his mouth open in shock. He scowled. "What was that?" he repeated.

"A garden gnome. They're kinda these ugly little jerks who like to hang around and eat my mom's peonies. They also might've picked up on some Spanish. Cami likes to come out here and curse at them when she's venting."

Keith glared, and Lance reached out a hand to help him up. "Let's take a break."

He left Keith out on the porch and rummaged around in the freezer before pulling out two popsicles. He came back outside and plopped down beside his friend, shoving the icy treat into his hands.

"It's lime," Lance said, relishing the juicy sourness that danced across his tongue. Keith took it.

"Thanks," he said begrudgingly.

"Careful. You might hurt yourself in your effort to express gratitude," Lance said snidely, and was rewarded with a painful punch on the shoulder.

"Ow," he rubbed his arm, pouting dramatically.

Keith looked out at the garden, the sunlight bright on his face, the colorful flowers waving in the breeze.

"Thank you," he said again, quietly, earnestly. Lance's stomach twinged as he watched Keith's expression soften. "I'd still be stuck in my room if not for you."

Lance smiled, elbowing Keith lazily. "That's what friends are for."

\---

"I'll sleep on the floor. You take the bed."

"No. I can't take your bed, Lance."

"No, okay, seriously, my mom will _kill_ me if she finds out I let you sleep on the floor. There is no way."

Keith paused _,_ looking at Lance uncertainly, and Lance pressed a hand to his shoulder. "Take the bed. You are my _guest_."

Keith sighed. "Okay."

Lance grinned, leaning back on the smattering of pillows and sheets that he had managed to acquire from all parts of the house, eventually forming some semblance of a bed. He switched off the light and found himself staring at the ceiling, listening to Keith's breathing fall into a slow rhythm as the other boy drifted off. Lance smiled up at the sleeping figure. He had forgotten how nice it was to share a room with someone else. Keith slept, his face serene, his quiet exhales gusting out and ruffling the hairs splayed across his pillow. Lance's heart followed the rhythm of Keith's breathing until his own eyes grew heavy and his world winked into darkness.

\---

Staying with Lance was fun. Pidge and Hunk came over almost every day and the four children spent hours playing quidditch outside, chatting mindlessly, or simply sitting together in silence. Keith spent a lot of time helping Lance out with household chores, cooking, cleaning, weeding, and caring for the younger kids. Lance liked to turn all chores into a competition, and Keith, though somewhat irritated by this, was happy to oblige if it meant that he got to beat Lance at his own stupid games.

Keith met Lucas on the fourth day of his stay, and he had really admired how kind and mature Lance's older brother was. He reminded him of Mike and Professor Shiro. Keith had honestly been surprised to find that not a single one of Lance's famiy members came close to being as infuriating as the boy himself. He found himself enjoying reading stories to Cat, pestering Lance with Sammy and Sarah, helping Camila with the cooking and chores, and discussing wizarding politics and current events with Lucas and Mrs. Sanchez. Dinners were always eventful; those were the times when the whole family would crowd around the table, trading stories from the day, teasing one another, and discussing various books and aspects of wizarding culture that Keith wasn't very attuned to.

As the days drew closer and closer to the end of his visit and their return to Altea, they also brought Keith closer to the full moon. He started to feel sick a few days before his transformation, and there was nothing he could do to hide it. Mrs. Sanchez wasn't around very often during the day. She had an important job to focus on and five (now six) mouths to feed at home. So it was left to Camila and Lance to fuss over Keith, and they brought him tea and medecine and hot water bottles, desperately trying to do what they could. But nothing helped. After all, they couldn't know what it was that was _really_ bothering Keith.

On the night of the full moon, Keith found himself rummaging through his suitcase, grabbing a change of clothes and dashing out the door before anyone could notice him.  _Gotta get away, gotta get away from them_ , he thought desperately as he ran blindly out towards the woods. He ran and ran when he reached the tangle of trees, ignoring the branches that slapped his face or the thorns that grazed his legs. He ran until he had forgotten the way back, until he was stuck in the deepest, darkest, part of the woods. He hoped. He lashed himself to a tree with a quick spell, dropping his wand. His arms prickled, pain shooting through his body, and he screamed as hair began to poke its way out of his neck. His teeth grew larger and sharper, causing an agonizing ache in his jaw, and he trembled with effort and clawed at the tree he was tied to. His screams twisted into howls that echoed through the forest.

\---

Keith trudged back to the house the next morning, clutching his old, torn clothes under his arms.

Lance stood in the doorway, waiting for him.

"Where were you?" he asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow in concern.

"I-uh, I couldn't sleep, so I took a walk last night. Then I fell asleep outside, I guess." Keith shrugged, aware of how lame it sounded.

"Uh huh," Lance said skeptically, his eyes roving over Keith's ripped change of clothes, then coming back to meet his gaze. "Got lost in the stars, then?"

Keith shrugged again.

"You look terrible," Lance noted, smirking. He lifted a hand to a stinging spot on Keith's face where a tree branch had whipped across his cheek.

 _It probably left some kind of mark,_ Keith thought, wincing. He self-consciously lifted up a hand to flatten his hair, which he knew resembled a tangled rat's nest.

Lance pulled him inside, grabbing a box of bandages and some rubbing alcohol from a shelf above the kitchen sink, then plopped down on the couch. He patted the spot beside him and Keith sat. Lance plunged a cotton ball into the rubbing alcohol and got to work, sweeping the stinging solution over Keith's cuts and bruises, refusing to back off when Keith flinched away from his touch.

Keith's heart skipped a beat when Lance's fingers brushed against his skin, gentle and unassuming, but still so present and focused.  _Focused on_ me _,_ Keith thought, his stomach dropping as he examined Lance's serious expression, eyebrows drawn together, tongue between his teeth.

"You can, like, tell me if you need help, okay?" Lance said, a hint of hurt blossoming in his voice. "I know you don't like to be babied or whatever, but I just want to help. Like, we're friends. You can trust me."

 _But you can't trust me_ , Keith thought bitterly, frowning and turning away. Lance was working on his arms now, deftly bandaging up the spots where Keith had sustained the severest damage.

"Okay?" Lance said, when Keith didn't respond.

"...Okay."

\---

Keith was sorry to leave Lance's house when Pidge's parents picked them up and drove them all down to the train station.

"Ugh, I'm so excited!" Sarah said, wiggling a little in her seat.

Sammy nodded. "I'm gonna learn so much that I could be the next _headmaster_  next year."

Sarah grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. "No, 'cause Allura's gonna ask _me_ to be headmaster first!"

Keith laughed. So Lance wasn't the only McClain to have a competitive streak.

Leaning out the window of the train with the rest of his friends, Keith waved a last farewell to Mrs. Sanchez, Lucas, and little Catalina as they grew smaller and smaller on the platform. Sarah and Sammy nervously poked their heads out the window as well, seeking some reassurance as they set out for their first year at Altea. Keith wanted to say something to them to ease their nerves, but he couldn't think of anything, so instead he just gave them an awkward smile and ducked back into the train.

The ride was uneventful. Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk spent most of it joking around and eating candy, the air thick with their anticipation.

When the children walked into the Great Hall, large and warm and brightly lit with its floating candles and starry ceiling, Keith smiled, relief washing over him. He'd missed it.

\---

Lance sat in between Keith and Cami at the Gryffindors' table, waiting with anticipation as he watched the first-year students get sorted. 

"Samuel McClain," Professor Allura called, and Lance gripped the table excitedly as he watched his little brother clamber up onto the stool and place the Sorting Hat on his head. It didn't take long for the hat to release its call.

"Slytherin!" it roared.

Lance stiffened.  _Slytherin?_ His entire family had always been placed in Gryffindor for as long as anyone could remember. His mother, his father, Lucas, and Camila. And him. But now? His heart still pounded at the memory of a certain wizard who had killed his father. A certain wizard who had also been in Slytherin.

There was a smattering of applause and Lance met Sammy's eyes. He looked so nervous, so scared.  _Nope, not letting that happen_ , Lance thought, rising to his feet. He let out a deafening cheer and vehemently clapped his hands together. Cami was right beside him.

"Yeah Sammy, you go, little man!" she yelled, embarrassingly loud over the crowd's applause. Sammy grinned relievedly, then rolled his eyes and sat down at the Slytherin table beside a little blond haired boy. A Slytherin prefect clapped him on the back.  _He'll be fine_ , Lance thought.  _The houses are assigned for a reason_.

"Sarah McClain," Professor Allura announced. Sarah stepped up to the Sorting Hat. When she got sorted into Slytherin, there wasn't even a pause before Lance and Cami were up on their feet, screaming their throats out.

Keith elbowed Lance. "Must you embarrass them like that?"

Lance smirked in response. "It's tradition."

\---

Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Keith wandered the hallways together, having managed to sneak out of the feast early. They were still giddy with the excitement of coming back to the school, tapping their feet on the familiar stones and waving greetings at the colorful paintings on the walls.

"Ugh, we're gonna have so much more homework this year," Lance groaned, although he couldn't deny the faint anticipation that churned in his stomach at the thought of returning to classes.

"Honestly, I'm kind of excited," Hunk said, scratching the back of his neck bashfully.

"Yup," Pidge nodded. "We're a buncha nerds."

Keith snorted. "You don't have to tell me."

Lance shoved Keith playfully. "What, you're not excited for classes? You're too _cool_?"

"I'm _excited_  to enhance my skills as a wizard," Keith answered simply, giving Lance a shove in return.

"And there you have it. Keith Kogane is the biggest nerd of us all," Lance announced, smirking. He set off at a run down the corridor, turning back to grin at the others.

"Race you to the end of the hall!" he shouted.

Keith pushed forward. "You got a head start," he protested grumpily. Lance sped up, but Keith quickly passed him, reaching the end of the hall seconds before him. He turned to triumphantly smile at the others before his eyes caught on something on the wall and his smile dropped, his expression horrified.

"What?" Lance asked as he came to a skidding stop at the end of the hall. "What is it?"

And then he saw it: a limp body lying on the floor, so small it was probably a first year. He took a step closer, his breaths shallowing. Lance scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, noticing the golden fur that grew in patches on the boy's face, the whiskers that protruded from under his nose, and...were those ears that poked out from the top of his head? As he neared the boy, he spotted two tiny red dots on the boy's exposed neck.

"Are those...bite marks?" Keith asked, nervousness quivering in his voice. 

Before he could respond, a sudden, searing pain erupted in Lance's chest, and he fell to his knees, scrabbling at his scar in a panic. He struggled to breathe, his throat closing up in agony.

A warm presence was immediately at his side and a strong arm wrapped itself comfortingly around Lance's shoulder, another hand gently pressing to his chest.

"Lance," a quiet voice spoke close to his ear, and Lance realized that it was Keith, his dark eyes swimming with concern. "Are you okay?"

Lance gasped with effort. The pain was so intense, so unfamiliar. He couldn't speak. Pidge and Hunk had caught up with them by then and stared at the scene in frightened fascination, huddling around Lance. People began flooding the halls, shuffling their way back to their dormitories as the feast ended, but stopped as they came across the morbid scene.

Professor Allura, Shiro, and Coran shouldered their way to the front of the crowd, eyes widening in shock when they fell on the unconscious boy.

Pidge raised her hand warily, pointing at the wall. "Guys, look."

Lance looked up, the pain refusing to subside, Keith's hand still placed protectively over his chest. Squinting his eyes and peering through the blurry haze of his discomfort, Lance was able to make out a message written above the boy's pasty, listless body. It was painted out with some kind of red liquid.  _Not blood, not blood, not blood,_ Lance hoped with a sickening wrench in his stomach.

_Of all the truly weak and tainted_

_To which life gives_

_Friends to the hated,_

_Beware! We cannot forgive_

_The enemy,_

_For Zarkon lives._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok sorry i was so excited i updated without the notes and summary stuff, idk how notifications works for subscribers and all that so yeah lol
> 
> So anyway:  
> Mi casa es su casa, mi amigo: My house is your house, my friend (Lance is a fucking meme okay, also this is justified becasue Spanish, also Lance)  
> Madre: Mother  
> Mi amigo: mah friend, buddy, pal, *boyfriend*  
> No me toques, pendejo: Don't touch me, jerk/asshole/dumbass (YOU DECIDE)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The PLOT THICKENS  
> Werewolf angst™ plus romantic tension

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry bout the wait y'all

Keith peered over the heads of his professors, trying to get a better look at the little boy (a first year named Roger Everton) now swathed in blankets on a hospital wing bed. Pidge, Hunk, and Lance stood with Keith on the edges of the scene, watching their professors as they whispered in hushed urgent tones, huddled together in a clump of distress.

Professor Shiro had been the one to step up to Roger in the hallway earlier, and, after checking for a pulse and finding a tiny heartbeat still pinging away in the injured boy's chest, had hoisted him over his shoulder and began making his way to the hospital wing.

Professor Allura had acted quickly, ordering all of Altea's staff to follow her to the infirmary and dragging along the four children who had had the misfortune of being found at the scene of the crime. The rest of the students she easily disbanded with a quick reassurance and a firm command.

So now Keith stood, apprehensive, waiting for a verdict from Miss Eloise, and no doubt a series of questions that he and his friends would be expected to answer afterwards. He strained his ears as his professors continued to whisper together, heads bowed.

"That message, what could this mean for the school?" Professor Galley asked, sharp eyebrows angled in concern.

"...dangerous for the students," Keith heard Professor Hax, their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, mutter.

"Oh, really? That thought must've slipped my mind." Professor Allura whispered back, a note of sarcasm in her voice.

"Alright, alright, we all need to stay calm. There's clearly an explanation for this..." Shiro intervened, placing a hand on Allura's shoulder.

"We were lucky he's alive at all, really," Professor Coran pointed out sensibly, trying to put a positive spin on the situation.

"...can never be too cautious..." Professor Trilbid, their Charms teacher, warned, waggling a finger.

"Once you all shut up, I would be happy to let you know what's going on with Roger over here," Miss Eloise said testily, gesturing rather agitatedly in the direction of the boy.

Allura cleared her throat, smoothing out the wrinkles in her cloak before nodding at Miss Eloise. "Yes, erm, please continue."

"Well, he seems to be suffering from some kind of long-term paralysis. He's still functional, but his brain isn't sending any motor signals to the rest of his body. And then there's the obvious strangeness here," she continued, pointing at the furry patches on his skin, "where he seems to have sprouted fur? And ears. It mirrors the effects of some kind of curse...And one more thing." Her voice darkened just a shade, and she gently rubbed her thumb over the two red puncture marks in Roger's neck. "Bite marks. It seems like this was done by...some kind of  _animal_."

 _Animal_. The word sent a shiver down Keith's spine and he clenched his fist as it echoed back at him. From the hushed whispers of the teachers to the furthest, darkest corners of the room, it repeated itself as steadily as the pulse of his heartbeat.  _Animal, animal._  

Beside him, Hunk's bottom lip trembled and Pidge patted his arm.

"He was gonna be a little Hufflepuff. I could've been a mentor to him but then he went and got paralysed on his first day!" Hunk said, distressed.

"Miss Eloise will find a cure. She figured out how to revive Lance after he was literally hit by a killing curse, dude," Pidge countered sensibly, although the crinkle in her eyebrows and paleness of her complexion indicated that she was rattled as well.

Keith hesitated.  _Killing curse? Did that have to do with that weird thing that happened to him earlier?_ He shot a brief look at Lance, who was unusually quiet as he surveyed the scene.

"Children," Allura began, lifting her head from the teacher huddle, and Keith searched her expression for a hint of an accusation, heard the empty word ringing in his ears: _animal, animal_.

But she simply asked, "Did you see anything strange? How did you find Roger?"

The four of them dutifully recounted the story of how they came across the message and injured student, but were unable to provide anything helpful or of particular importance. All Keith could think about was the slightest, nagging  _possibility_ that he maybe knew what was going on. The answer danced playfully on the tip of his tongue, like a lethal ballerina: _werewolves_.

But he couldn't speak. He didn't want to utter a sound, for fear of the echoes of "animal" in his ears again, for fear of directing suspicion onto himself, for fear of being wrong, appearing paranoid about who he was. What he was.

They were dismissed. Keith swallowed. He hoped Roger was okay, if only to soothe his own hyperactive conscience. He really hoped Roger was okay.

\---

Lance shifted under his sheets, then sat up, punching his pillow to make it more comfortable. He grabbed his chocolate frog card from the folds of the robes that hung beside him and nervously ran his fingers over its familiar surface. The events of the night had left him restless, and he couldn't shake the nausea in his stomach or the lingering burn of his scars.

"...Lance?" 

It was Keith. By the faint light of the moon, Lance could see the pale outline of his face and the hesitance in his eyes. It was clear that he wanted to talk about something, and Lance had a feeling he knew what it was about.

"Yeah?"

"Um...today, when you were hurt-what was that? What happened to you?"

Lance paused. He hadn't forgotten about the pain that had enveloped his chest earlier, and he still shivered as he recalled its burning rage, its terrifying inescapability.

"I...I don't know," Lance admitted, glaring at his sheets. 

"Pidge said something about a killing curse." Keith's face was intense, his gaze probing, unrelenting. Lance sighed, gripping the chocolate frog card too tightly, sharp pain pricking along the edges of his hand where it poked into him.

"Yeah...Zarkon hit me with the curse last year, when we were...you know." He waved his hand absently and Keith nodded, sullen at the memory of their confrontation in the musty chamber.

"And uh, it didn't kill me, but it left this...scar."

"What scar? Why didn't you tell me?" Keith's voice was hushed, trembling with worry, and Lance's heart expanded at the sound.

He hesitated, then began undoing the first four buttons of his pajama shirt, uncovering his chest so he could expose the three long gashes, arching elegantly up to meet his left breastbone as they tapered away. Keith nervously slid off of his own bed and pulled himself up beside Lance, leaning in close to him as he stared at the twisted marks. He was so close that Lance could count his eyelashes, could spot the anxious, downward scrunch of his lips. Keith lifted a tentative hand, the shadows of his fingers flickering over Lance's chest. The two boys' breaths intermingled in the darkness and quiet tingles danced up Lance's spine. He caught his breath. Then, Keith reached forward and-

"Ow!" Lance yowled angrily as Keith poked him hard on the shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Keith growled.

"It never came up," Lance groaned in response, rubbing his shoulder dramatically.

"This ties you to Zarkon," Keith said, panicked. "The pain started when we saw the message, right?"

"Well, uh, it was before I actually read it, but it was like my body was _warning_ me or something."

Keith paused thoughtfully, eyebrows pulled low in the darkness. He glared down at Lance's sheets. "...idiot."

"Wha-jerk! I thought we had a bonding moment!"

"Shut up, Lance!"

The blankets shifted in the bed across from them, and Lance turned to see Craig's head pop out from under them. At night, the darkness of his skin blended in with the shifting shadows, and all Lance could see of him were the whites of his eyes and teeth as he split into a grin.

"Yo guys, like I hate to interrupt your heartfelt bro-fest over there, but we're trying to sleep and you're kinda loud..." Craig said, jerking his head over to Thomas, who nodded hesitantly and then flashed them a guilty smile.

"Yeah, uh, it _is_ kinda distracting," Thomas agreed, apprehensively fidgeting with his sheets.

Lance shoved Keith out of his bed, but he was too busy staring in embarrassment to notice the act of violence. 

"Uh, s-sorry," Lance spluttered awkwardly, uncertain as to who it was exactly that he was apologising to.

"Yeah, no biggie. Just go to sleep already," Craig conceded, shooting them a mischievous smile to soften the command.

"Yeah."

\---

"Lance? Can I talk to you for a moment?" 

Lance peered over Hunk's shoulder at Professor Shiro as he began making his way out of the Potions classroom. 

"Oh. Yeah, cool. I''ll catch up with you guys," Lance said, shooting finger guns at his friends and pulling a mischievous smile. The three regarded him in vague disgust before giving up and turning to leave. 

Lance picked past the potions tables to come up to Shiro's desk. 

"So...um, what's up?"

Shiro looked at him in quiet amusement, fondness soft in his eyes, before he spoke.

"I was just wondering how you're doing. After the whole incident with Roger recently. I noticed you were experiencing some pain?"

"Um...yeah," Lance said, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was my scar, actually. Keith thinks it 'ties me to Zarkon', or whatever."

"Interesting."

"Yeah."

"But you're okay?"

"Yeah. I'm totally. Completely. Great." Lance said, punctuating it with an awkward but enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Shiro raised an eyebrow, but a smile had overtaken his features, and he let out a short, soft laugh. "Okay, good. And congrats on your siblings getting into Slytherin by the way."

"Yeah." Lance couldn't help the slight flicker of uneasiness that crossed his face despite the rush of pride that danced through his chest.

Shiro noticed, of course, and leaned across the table. "What is it?"

"I just don't want them getting bullied or having evil magic vibes rubbed off on them."

"Hey. You don't have to worry about them, okay? It's a cool house."

"How do you know? You were a Hufflepuff."

Shiro laughed. "So? One of my best friends was a Slytherin when I went to Altea." He smiled sadly, his expression bittersweet as he reminisced.

"I just -- Zarkon was a Slytherin," Lance said, sounding strangled.

Shiro crossed his arms self-consciously, eyes darkening and jaw tightening.

"Not everyone in Slytherin turns out like that," he said quietly, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than Lance.

"Yeah...I know..."

Realizing his shift in mood, Shiro quickly uncrossed his arms, clearing his throat. He smiled up at Lance and slid a piece of paper over to him.

"Give this to Keith would you? He forgot his homework on the way out."

"Got it. Thanks, Professor."

\---

"Alright, class. Today, we're going to be covering the topic of what? The Altean lions." Professor Hax wrote the names of the lions in loopy script on the board.

"So, up until some very _recent events_ ," Hax said, with a pointed look over at Keith, who sat next to Pidge, and Lance, who sat beside Hunk in front of them. "Students have been held in the belief that these lions _do not exist_."

"However, _because_ of these _recent events_ , their existence has become more commonly known. They used to live below the school, but no longer. Why? Because they are no longer gaurding what? The quintessence. So now, they are kept in some stables where? The castle grounds."

Pidge snickered everytime Professor Hax punctuated his long-winded, completely rhythmless speeches with self-answered questions. She nudged Keith on the last one and the two smothered their laughter in their hands.

It had been about two months since school started, and after the initial rocky start, Keith had found it easy to settle back into his life at Altea.

"So, the lions are very what? Important to the school. They have been known to possess special abilities in what kind of magic? _Elemental_ magic. They also tend to form bonds with witches or wizards that they connect with and admire. In order for this to happen you must be what? Pure of both heart and intentions. If you want something from them, and are impure, you risk your life by even appearing before them. Now, with the exceptional few who manage to what? _Bond_ with the lions, the connection is always very difficult to explain. It's deeper than magic, some say, and it lasts for how long? Forever."

Lance flopped his head over backwards so that he was grinning upside-down at Keith and Pidge from where he sat in front of them, and Hunk smiled sympthetically, the tip of his quill between his teeth as he chewed at it thoughtfully. Keith started to roll his eyes, but grimaced when he felt his breath become shallow in his chest. He blinked in confusion, suddenly feeling a faint throb in his temples. Professor Hax's voice faded in and out of his ears and the loopy lettering on the board swam around the classroom as he squinted up at it.

 _Ugh,_ he was feeling the effects of his transformation already. The full moon was a whole week away.

"Um, can I go to the bathroom?" Keith asked, shooting a hand up in the air. His head pounded. 

"Ah, yes, of course. Go on."

Keith scurried out of the classroom, feeling eyes on his back.

He made it to the bathroom, where he stumbled to the sink and splashed water on his face with shaky hands. A wave of uncontrollable exhaustion crashed over him and nausea crawled in his gut, vision blurring.

He blinked slowly and the blurriness took over, the room swinging around him as he fell to the floor.

\---

White. Yellow. Graying edges crept into focus. Browned corners and watery cracks came to life in the corners of Keith's vision. He stared at the bathroom ceiling. His head ached and the frigidity of the linoleum floor pressed into his elbows.

He'd fainted. For how long, he couldn't be sure. He stood, brushing himself off tentatively, and glared at his reflection in the mirror. In the bathroom lighting, he looked even more pale and wan than usual, his skin a sickly yellowish tinge against his sooty black hair. 

He jumped as the bathroom door creaked open and Lance poked his head in.

"Keith?"

"I'm here." Keith winced at the slight crack in his voice, hoping it wasn't too noticeable. "What's up?"

Lance paused, looking suspicious, concern flickering in his eyes. "Uh, dude. You know you've been gone for like, forty minutes, right? Professor Hax told me to check on you."

"Oh. Uh, I'm fine. Class was getting kinda boring, I guess."

"Um. Oookay." Lance remained unconvinced. "Well, we should head back. And you should think of a lie to tell Hax, dude."

"Yeah."

"Well, come on, then."

Keith nodded, took a shaky step, swaying heavily. He reached out at the last second to catch his fall on one of the bathroom sinks, grimacing. Lance's eyes widened.

"I knew it! What the heck, Keith? It's your illness thing again!" Lance crossed the room in quick, angry strides and Keith felt a warm arm encircle his waist. Lance grabbed Keith's hand and pulled it over his shoulders.

"I'm taking your stupid butt to the hospital wing."

Keith was too tired to argue. He swallowed painfully instead.

The two boys stepped out of the bathroom and started in the opposite direction from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, towards the hospital wing. They trekked along the hallway, turning a corner when-

A body. It lay on the ground, completely still, enveloped in robes of inky black. A pair of furry ears poked out from under the swathes of cloth.

 _It happened again,_ Keith thought, heart threatening to escape from its skeletal cage.

The boys crept up to the person, uncertainly moving aside the cloth and peering down at the face of the newest victim. And then Keith's heart did escape from his ribcage. It leaped out of his chest and Keith could no longer breathe because-

it was Shiro.

\---

"You found him in the hallways near the third floor bathroom?" Professor Allura asked calmly. She stood at Shiro's bedside, where Lance and Keith were also huddled, trying to get over their shock.

"Yeah, we-we were coming here 'cause Keith felt sick," Lance said, trying to steady the shakiness of his breaths.

"...I see." Allura frowned, braving a glance at Shiro, who had sprouted whiskers to match his furry golden ears. Lance would have pointed out that he looked vaguely cute, under different circumstances.

"Well, I'm still working on that cure," Miss Eloise interjected from where she was scribbling some notes down at her desk. "Now I have two patients to study, I suppose."

"Oh alright, go on. Get out of here." Allura shooed the boys away.

"Wait, Keith is-" Lance started.

"No, no, I'm fine." Keith shushed him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Keith looked to be anything but fine, but Lance didn't want to press it any further. He was exhausted and scared. His favorite teacher lay a few feet away from him, reduced to nothing but a furry, paralysed heap of skin and bones until Miss Eloise could find a cure. If she found a cure.

He pulled his friend out the door. When he glanced back, he noticed Allura sitting at Shiro's bedside, a kind of sorrowful tenderness in her eyes that he didn't often see. She looked small, in that moment. Smaller than Lance had ever remembered her being. As headmistress, she was always cool, always collected, strong, commanding. Yet here she sat, regretting the fate of a friend, and the tiniest hint of fragility glinted in her steely gaze. She was scared. So was Lance.

\---

Missing Shiro. It was constant. Ever-present, like a thorn in Keith's side that he had no way of extracting. 

He missed Shiro's helpful hints during potions, the way he nodded graciously when he passed a student in the halls. He missed his quiet understanding when students made mistakes and stern, serious attitude when he was trying to keep the class productive. His empty chair at the teacher's table and missing presence in Potions was a stiff, constant reminder of his absence.

Keith's werewolf symptoms were worsening. They hadn't been nearly this bad last year, nor had they even reached this level of intensity over the summer. Something strange was going on, and Keith couldn't help but consider the fact that Shiro had been attacked while Keith was passed out. Meaning he couldn't remember anything. Sure, the fur that both Shiro and Roger had grown was gold, not the ashy gray of werewolf fur. But what if-

Hunk nudged him gently. They were in Potions, stirring their bubbling cauldrons while Professor Coran marched around the desks, ravishing the students with moral support and attempting to fill the gaping hole that Shiro had left behind.

"Are you good?" Hunk asked, looking up from his pepperup potion, which was the perfect shade of fiery orange.

"Yeah, just spacing out."

Hunk smiled. "I feel you, bro. I did _not_ get enough sleep last night."

"Tell me about it," Keith mumbled grumpily, shoving out hs bottom lip. "Lance kept me up all night with some stupid rant about stale pumpkin pasties."

Hunk turned to Keith, offended. "Stale pumpkin pasties are a threat to society!"

Keith rolled his eyes, smilng.

"Ah yes, good job. Excellent work, Hunk," Professor Coran said, peering over at Hunk's concoction. "It's beautiful. I might even say perfect!"

Lance looked up from where he and Pidge were brewing their respective potions at the next table. He shot Hunk a thumbs up, wiggling his eyebrows.

"And yours, Keith. It looks very nice." Keith smiled skeptically. His potion was probably functional, but it was a much paler orange, nowhere near the deep burn of Hunk's.

Lance stuck his tongue out at Keith.  _Mine is better_ , he mouthed.

Keith glared back, then gave up, rolling his eyes exasperatedly. Some things never changed.

\---

Pidge chewed thoughtfully on a piece of toast, examining her copy of _The Daily Prophet_ with concern, her eyebrows drawn down sharply.

"What's up?" Lance asked, poking his fork in her direction. "Yo, Pidge."

Pidge glanced up at him, eyebrow raised, and chucked the newspaper at Lance's head. He narrowed his eyes irritatedly at her as he unfolded the paper and let his eyes scan the blocky, black letters.

"There's an article about the recent attacks on Roger and Shiro," Pidge said, peering at Lance over the top of the newspaper. "A couple of parents have pulled their students out of school already."

"Huh."

"I don't really blame them," Hunk piped up from where he sat, lathering his toast with jam. "I mean, if something freaky like that threatened the safety of my kids I would like, get them out as soon as I could."

"Yeah. Parents _would_  be concerned, I guess," Pidge agreed. "But, like, apparently a lot of them are blaming it on the Altean lions."

"What?" Lance asked. "They think the  _lions_ are behind this?"

"Well, it's not that unfounded," Pidge said. "I mean, the victims all exhibited features similar to a lion after getting attacked."

"And...there's also the fact that Zarkon has a bond with the black lion," Keith muttered from where he sat.

Lance frowned in thought. He remembered the way Lapis had bumped him with her nose and helped him and the others get past Ebony in order to go after Keith. Irritation twinged in his gut at the mere suggestion that the lions could be evil.

"Um, okay, but they're like, the protectors of the school and magic and stuff. They will literally kill you if you come within five feet of them with anything less than 'pure intentions.'" Lance punctuated the last part of his outburst with air quotes, mimicking Professor Hax's pedantic drawl.

"I'm not saying they're right." Pidge shrugged indifferently. "I'm saying it's justified. People are scared and they're looking for answers."

\---

Keith awoke to a sharp jab on the arm. 

"Dude." Pidge leaned over the table, books piled high around her. She raised an eyebrow in faint concern.

"What?"

"You fell asleep. The library's closing up for the evening."

"Oh, okay." Keith grabbed his bag, shaking himself free of the lingering clouds of drowsiness. His head pounded painfully. 

The two ambled down the hallway companionably, Keith dragging his fingertips along the walls, feeling the grooves of the stones as Pidge commented on the spells used to light the corridors at night.

"They're actually, like, programmed to turn off at curfew. The magic is so strong that the lights could probably come on every day and turn off every night for centuries if the school was abandoned."

Keith smiled, feeling a biting twinge in his temples. "That's cool."

"Yeah, I wish I could figure out how to channel magic that strong."

"You will."

Pidge grinned and readjusted her glasses, awkward but pleased. "Ha. That's funny."

Keith shrugged, smiling. "I mean, you are like, the best student in the second year."

Pidge paused at the foot of the staircase that led to the Ravenclaw tower. "Yes. Yes I am." She smiled as though it surprised her to think of herself that way, and then turned to Keith with a cheeky grin. "Well, see ya."

"Yeah." Keith raised a hand in farewell as Pidge headed up the stairs.

He continued along the halls on his own, briefly passing other students on their way back to their dorms. His head still hurt.

He stepped quietly as he came to a deserted hallway, his temples prickling uncomfortably. 

_I'd better go see Professor Shiro and ask about the wolfsbane tomor-_

His stomach dropped as he realized his mistake. _Or not._

Keith clenched his fists, fuzziness crowding his vision.

A familiar swooping feeling in his gut made him lose his balance. He tried to steady himself against the wall, but was quickly engulfed in darkness.

\---

The first thing Keith registered when he blinked his eyes open was the halo of light that still glowed along the hallways.

 _Oh good. Curfew's not over_   _yet._

He stumbled to his feet, blinking the lingering fuzziness out of his eyes as he made his way down the corridor. 

 _I just need more sleep,_ he thought desperately.  _That's why I-_

_Oh no._

It was a girl this time. Splayed out below a painting empty of its inhabitants. Her long skinny arm lay limp across the stones, and Keith leaned over her. She'd grown claws.

\---

"Lance?"

"Yeah?" 

Lance lay on his bed, staring up at his canopy, thoughts dashing through his head. It had been a few days since Keith had discovered fifth-year Anna Hughes lying in the hallways. The third victim. Now, parents had started pulling more and more students out of school and Professor Allura had permanently holed herself up in her office.

"Dude, what?" Lance asked. Keith sat, hunched over in the bed beside him, eyes darting nervously from Lance down to the floor, like he was reluctant to voice his concerns. Lance waited, eyebrows raised.

"Um...I've uh, I've kinda been fainting recently." Keith let the words tumble out in a rush, slurring them together in his haste to banish them from his mouth.

"What?"

"I've been fainting. Since Shiro got attacked, my illness has started getting worse, and...I fainted a couple times."

"Seriously?"

"...yeah. And, um..." Keith stopped, and Lance snuck a glance at him. His face was twisted into an unreadable expression, half in shadow.

"Do-do you think it's possible that...I could be behind the attacks?"

"Keith, what the hell are you talking about?" Lance sat up straight on his bed, forgetting how comfortably reclined he was before, and stared at Keith in disbelief.

Keith began to fidget with his sheets self-consciously. "Every time I've fainted, something bad has happened."

"Okay, no. Just-why? First of all, I was _with_ you the _entire_ night that Roger was attacked. So there's no way it could've been you. Right?"

"...right."

"And second of all, what, you think, you can like, faint-walk, or something? Your body blacks out, and then you immediately get up like you're possessed by a monster and start attacking random people?"

"Um."

"No, dude. You're being stupid."

"Wha-I'm just being careful. I don't know!"

"No. You. Are. Being. Stupid."

Keith was silent for a moment, then let out a short laugh. "You know, you might be right. For once."

"I'm _always_  right."

"Whatever. Night Lance."

"G'night. Stupid."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important: School is starting soon and I have college apps and whatnot so I will likely be updating only rarely from here on out. I know, it saddens me too. School is dumb.  
> But yeah :(
> 
> Also, thanks to Mutant-Girl for the fanart!  
> http://mutant-girl013.deviantart.com/art/Voltron-Wizards-629207649


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gay snowball fight  
> Lance and Keith have some issues, aka Lance gets suspicious  
> The Mystery™ is further investigated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who finally updated omg you guys  
> Thanks so much for all the awesome feedback seriously you have no idea how much it all means to me.  
> Also how the hell did we get to 150 subs, like damn? Holy shit?????

As the school days passed and autumn's raging winds shifted into the frosty expanse of winter, Lance wondered if the recent attacks on Shiro and the others had been some kind of anomaly. They faded from students' memories, and although there was no forgetting what had happened, the whispers of danger and the hurried footsteps on the way to class seemed to let up. Students no longer rushed back to their dorms hours before curfew, and the school quickly settled back into a relaxed, everyday routine.

Lance's own worries were quelled when, on a visit to Shiro in the infirmary, Miss Eloise had proudly told him that she had discovered the perfect mixture of ground boomslang skin, powdered doxy egg, and butterscotch, which had succesfully shrank the size of Robert's fluffy ears and forced some of Shiro's fur to recede.

Things were looking up, especially now that Christmas had rolled around, and Lance was getting word that many students who had previously been pulled out of school were planning to come back after the break.

Last year, Lance had decided to stay behind at Altea, to loosen his ties, establish his independence, and it had been  _fun_. For the most part. He had ignored the slight pang in his stomach as he drifted off to sleep last Christmas Eve, remembering his sibling's rambunctious shouts before bedtime, how his mother would come into his room and press a kiss to his forehead, wish him good night, and a "Merry Christmas, _mijo_." To which he would groan, "It's not Christmas yet, mama."

His mother would smile down at him in the dark. A huff, a familiar chuckle, and then, "Merry Christmas _Eve_ , then."

Lance had missed them all. A lot. But this year, the whole McClain family (or, at least half of it) would be staying at Altea for Christmas. His mother had written them a long, regretful letter, explaining all the sordid poltical nuances that demanded her attention in the London chapter of magical government, apologising profusely for not being home for Christmas, and promising to take them with her on a real vacation when she could afford it for the whole family. She had taken Cat (the lucky squirt) with her to London and let the others decide what they wanted to do for the holidays.

And so, on Christmas morning, Lance found himself shuffling blearily down the steps into the Gryffindor common room, Keith's fluffy black head of hair bumping into his back as the other boy fought to keep his eyes open.

Cami had stayed too, and she was already awake, giggling on one of the couches with her best friend, Deeya. Lance stopped to grin at them on his way to breakfast.

"Merry Christmas, sweet sister."

"Oh, the merriment has only just begun, beloved brother," Cami said, standing and hooking an arm around Lance's neck. She ground her knuckles into the top of his head affectionately before he yelped and jumped away. 

"Abuse! Child abuse! I'm gonna report you!"

"What?" Cami smiled, devilish. "I just love my little brother so much," she said, reaching out to pinch his cheeks. Deeya giggled into her hand, though she spared Lance a sympathetic, if amused glance. Lance blushed when he realized that Keith, too, was smirking behind him, unable to control his laughter. He bit his bottom lip, eyes shining with mirth, his hand lifted to conceal his snickering. Smile wrinkles took shape in the gentle curves at the sides of his eyes and mouth.

Lance brought an exasperated hand to his face and groaned, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Why, Cami."

"I'm kidding. Now go eat breakfast before you starve to death."

Lance rolled his eyes, grabbing Keith by the sleeve of his itchy red sweater and pulling him along before Cami's eyes widened.

"Whoa, whoa. Thought you were getting away, little man?" She arched a stern eyebrow at Keith.

"...what?"

Cami smirked and hooked Keith's head under the crook of her arm, where she treated him to an equally vigorous round of noogies.

"I lived with you for three weeks, and you think you can escape honorary little bro duties? Think again," Cami said, laughing. She released a spluttering Keith from her grasp and shoved him out the door after Lance, who stood, doubled over with laughter.

"Cami. I love you. I'm proud to call you my sister."

"I know, dude. I know."

Keith glared, but was unable to conceal the light in his eyes.

\---

Keith blinked ice crystals out of his eyes, his vision stinging as a mischievous cackle faded away to his right.

"Dammit, Lance!" he shouted, before he was hit in the back of the head with an equally painful clump of snow. Sammy appeared at his side, grinning.

"Stop yelling out loud, you're giving away your position," he supplied helpfully.

"Uh. Oh, thanks."

"No problem." Sammy tossed another handful of snow in Keith's face and disappeared behind a clump of bushes.

Keith cursed the McClains under his breath as he gathered up a handful of snow and packed it tightly. He ran in the direction he had heard Lance's voice and spotted a pair of Lance-sized footsteps retreating in the snow. He huffed a breath through his nose, and began to follow the trail, ducking behind trees and bushes as he followed it. Hearing a shout, he turned to see Sarah confront Sammy in an open space near him, and he quickly scuttled out of sight behind some bushes and crawled along stealthily, eyes still on Lance's trail. Suddenly, he spotted a flash of coarse brown hair a few feet away. Lance, eyes focused on the twins, was crouched behind a rock, the tips of his ears and nose bright red with cold, eyes glittering.

Keith took aim, careful to remain silent, drew his arm back and launched his snowball into the air, where it caught Lance full in the face. Lance choked and turned, glaring at Keith's spot in the bushes, but Keith was already running. He pelted a snowball at the back of Lance's head and gathered up another handful. Lance stumbled to his feet, grinning when he spotted Keith, and started running at him with an armful of snowballs. Keith hesitated just a second too long, and when he turned to run, Lance, with his too long legs, had already caught up to him. He grabbed Keith and spun him around easily, shoving a handful of snow down his shirt. 

Keith gasped at the immediate jolt of cold that traced fire along his chest. He snarled, jumping on top of Lance and pushing him into the snow. Lance brought up a clump of ice into Keith's hair and pushed him off, scrambling for the upper hand as they tumbled along. Keith shoved his elbow into Lance's chin but Lance used his longer limbs to trap Keith underneath him and then Keith was lying on his back in the fluffy white snow, Lance hovering over him. Their faces were inches apart. Lance's cheeks were red with exertion, laughter bubbling in his eyes, the slope of his noise, the quirk of his eyebrows. 

Eyes widened, Keith's breaths turned shallow and he became inexplicably nervous. He wondered if his heart would still be pulsing at this rate, if he would still be so breathless and uncomfortably warm, if he hadn't just gone on an angry rampage through the snow. His heart danced obnoxiously in his chest and he swallowed uncertainly. Lance smirked in triumph, licked the icy remnants of snow from his lips and leaned in a fraction closer to Keith. "I win."

\---

"So...you guys are pretty good friends, huh?" Keith jumped as Sammy turned to him with a sly grin. They had fallen behind Lance and Sarah on their way back to the dorms, and now plodded along the corridors together, footsteps puddling on the stone floors beneath them as they sniffled and nursed their snowball-inflicted battle scars.

"Um...yeah? I guess we have to be, since I'm stuck rooming with him," Keith answered with an indignant sniff.

"Uh huh," Sammy said slowly, the sly grin still firmly in place.

"I mean, I like Pidge and Hunk, and they hang around him all the time, so you know, there's no lack of exposure," Keith added quickly.

"Alright, buddy, I get it. You hate my brother."

Keith paused, the breath suddenly leaving his lungs at the mere thought of hating Lance. He stared at the ground, ears burning. "I-uh-I-I don't... _hate_ him."

"Yeah, I know, I just wanted to see if you'd admit it."

Keith tried to cuff Sammy over the head, but he ducked out of the way at the last second and turned to give Keith a friendly shove instead. It felt surprisingly natural. Maybe, in some way, Keith really was a part of the family, just like Cami had called him an... _honorary little bro._  He smiled despite himself. 

\---

The first couple months after Christmas passed without incident, and Lance found himself falling back into a routine, enjoying his life at Altea, occassionally causing mischief when the situation called for it.

"Please please please, Hunk. This is urgent stuff, buddy! I swear, I'm  _DYING_."

"Okay, Lance, just gimme a sec." Hunk waved Lance away, rifling through some more pages of text before lighting up as his eyes fell on a bit of valuable information. He quickly jotted something down onto his notes for the upcoming Charms paper and turned to Lance. "What's up?"

"Um...I, uh, I need you to help me with something."

"And what would that be?" Hunk asked with a patient smile.

"Well. As you know, the month of February is drawing to a close, and March 1st looms ever nearer, soooo...help me sneak into the kitchens to make preparations for Pidge's birthday?"

"Dude, I thought you'd never ask."

\---

Lance peeked over at Keith and shook him awake. "Yo, Keith. Wake up."

Keith jerked awake and shot a poisonous glare at Lance. Shrugging, Lance tossed Keith's invisibility cloak his way and wrapped his own around his shoulders.

"We're gonna go steal some prime pastries for the all-powerful Pidge."

"What?"

"Pidge's birthday?" Lance rolled his eyes, wrapping his fingers around Keith's wrist and pulling him out of his sleepy haze. "Let's go."

Lance crept warily along the halls, clutching his cloak tighter around him. His left arm was extended behind him, where he gripped Keith's arm through the fabric of their respective cloaks, so as not to lose one another in the darkened corridors. He felt a tingle of unease as he moved along, remembering the attacks in the beginning of the year that had sent the students and staff into a panic. He shook it off. This was Pidge's birthday, and he would not let it be ruined by his jumpy nerves and a failed attempt at espionage.

They met Hunk outside a painting of a pear near the Hufflepuff dormitories and he grinned at them sneakily. 

"Alright. This is going to be the best birthday celebration ever. I can't believe our little Pidge is finally turning twelve!" Hunk said, beaming.

"Wait. Twelve?" Keith asked. "Pidge is still eleven?"

Lance raised an eyebrow, remembering that Keith hadn't grown up with the rest of them. "Oh yeah, she like, sorta skipped a year. Came early, you know? Naturally gifted and all that."

"Wow."

"Yeah. She's basically a genius." Lance grinned proudly at the thought. Keith snorted and rolled his eyes.

"What?! Thought no one could live up to your perfect standards,  _fantasma_? Surprised someone's better than you at something?"

"No! I just-You were smiling like-ugh, never mind..." Keith trailed off, flustered, spluttering a little in the dark.

"Shhh. You guuuuys," Hunk whined. "No fighting." He gave them each a stern look, then grabbed Keith by the shoulders. "Now, look Keith, buddy, I'm going to need you to stand guard out here while Lance and I raid the kitchens for pastries. Whistle if you see anyone then run the hell away from here. We know what to do."

Keith nodded and Lance rolled his eyes, sticking out his tongue at the other boy.

"On second thought, maybe I'll let them find you," Keith warned, and Lance quickly twisted his mocking taunt into what he hoped looked like a friendly smile. 

"What was that, Keith? We're counting on you. Best friend," Lance added with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"You're insufferable."

\---

Keith sat in the hallway, clutching his invisibility cloak tighter around him, knowing that it didn't make any difference to shield him from view, but feeling the need to do it anyway. He eyed the corridors, nearly jumping out of his skin when he noticed Professor Hax trailing down the halls.

_He can't see me, he can't see me, he can't see me._

Keith was about to raise the alarm and run, when he realised something strange. Hax had paused in the hallway and was taking deep lungfuls of air, like he had smelled something funny and was eager to pinpoint its source. He sniffed at the air, still breathing in deeply.

"Who's there?"

_He knows?_

"Keith?"

_How does he know it's me?_

Keith sighed. So Hax already knew he was there. Maybe it was best to just give in now. This way he could distract Hax from catching Hunk and Lance, too. Keith quickly darted around the corner and took off his invisibility cloak, shoving it in his pocket and walking back around to meet Professor Hax, now completely visible.

"Professor! I, um, I couldn't sleep," Keith cast about desperately for a good lie. He really should've thought about this _before_ revealing himself.

"I just-wanted to see Professor Shiro." That at least that held some semblance of truth. "I'm worried about him." Keith felt his voice crack involuntarily and winced at his display of vulnerability, while simultaneously patting himself on the back for that rare display of emotion. Maybe it might even help him avoid getting detention.

"Oh, well," Professor Hax looked sympathetic, his eyebrows twitching with distress. He reached out and patted Keith awkwardly on the shoulder. "How about I take you to see him myself? You really shouldn't what? Wander these halls alone at night."

\---

Professor Allura and Coran were hunched over Miss Eloise's desk, talking in hushed whispers when Keith and Professor Hax wandered in. 

"Ah. Headmistress, Deputy Headmaster," Professor Hax said pleasantly, nodding at both Allura and Coran in turn. "Keith here wanted to visit who? Professor Shiro, you see. And I thought that, what? A quick visit wouldn't hurt. I, er, must be going now."

Allura raised an eyebrow at Keith, then nodded at Hax. "Very well. We don't  _usually_ allow students out of bed so late, but...this is a troubling time."

Keith swallowed nervously and sat beside Shiro. His fur had receded with Miss Eloise's treatment, but so far she had been unable to figure out how to accomplish what they really wanted: to get him to wake up.

With Shiro gone, Keith's transformations had gotten far more painful, and he knew for certain that the full moon was approaching fast. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, ignoring the ever-present throb in his forehead. He was startled back into the present when he felt a warm hand on his back.

"Keith?" Professor Allura slid into a seat beside him, her piercing blue eyes trained on his face.

"How are you doing?" she asked kindly.

"Um. I'm fine." Keith picked at Shiro's sheets, staring down at his lap.

"Yes? You know, you don't have to deal with your transformations alone, Keith. We're all here for you. I know Shiro was your...I know he was very important to you, and that he made the potion for you regularly, but-we're all very formidable wizards here, I assure you. We can come up with solutions."

"Uh, yeah, thanks." Keith breathed a sigh of relief, not even realising he'd been holding it in. It helped to talk. Sometimes he forgot there were people around that already knew about him, had already accepted him.

"Professor?" He began. "I-I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"Do you think...these attacks. Is it possible for a werewolf to have done it, like, while still being human?"

Allura looked at Keith in surprise, and he suddenly regretted asking. Maybe she hadn't thought about the possibility, was now going to kick Keith out of school for what he'd done. But then she smiled, and just as surprisingly, she  _laughed_.

"No, Keith. I  _highly_ doubt that. My goodness. Sometimes you are so much like your mother, I-"

"You knew my mother?"

Allura's smile faltered slightly. "Well, yes. We went to Altea together. With Shiro, too. It was a long time ago."

"When Lance and I-when we fought Zarkon? He said my parents were evil. He said they supported him."

"Oh, Keith," Allura sighed, all sense of cheeriness breaking as she turned her gaze away from him. She didn't respond for a moment.

"Your mother was...so strong, and she was never...she always knew what she wanted, and it was  _never_ to hurt others. She was brave, caring. The most selfless person I've ever known."

"And...my father?" Keith's voice came out more shakily than he had intended.

"Your-your father... _was_ a great man. He was principled, determined, clever. He always knew how to make you feel special. How to make you feel needed."

"I...don't even know his name." 

Allura paused, turned her stare directly onto Keith, like she was searching for something. She smiled sadly, reached out and let her fingers ghost over Shiro's. 

"I-um. Well. It has been awhile since-" she took a deep, shaky breath. Her blue eyes glittered. "I miss them."

She nodded at Shiro. "He does, too. Sees them both in you, you know."

Keith swallowed thickly, nodded. He stood to leave, unable to tolerate the stifling grief of the room. It was Allura's pain, Shiro's suffering. Not his. He had barely even known his own parents. His loss was not as sharp, the pain duller yet more infinite because he would never know. Could never know.

"Zachary Edwards." 

Keith paused on his way to the door, his back to Professor Shiro's bed. Allura's voice was clear, all traces of sadness fading as she quickly composed herself. 

"That was his name."

\---

Keith wandered down the halls in the dark. There was a strange peace that came with it. The darkness, with only the ebbing glow of the stars through the windowpanes. The silence, accompanied only by the quiet shuffle of his feet on the floor, the gentle lilt of his breaths. He angrily dashed the tears away from his eyes when he became aware of the wetness that glazed his cheeks. This sucked.

He continued walking before an unfamiliar patch of dark robes in the middle of the hallway caught his attention. With a creeping sense of foreboding, he stepped forward tentatively.

It had happened again. He knew it. The most recent victim looked young, and Keith reached out to turn them over. He was immediately met with a jarringly familiar face. Wide eyelids drawn over too-big eyes, sly eyebrows, and a messy head of dark hair. That all too familiar upturned nose. Keith shuddered, blind panic building in his chest, refusing to let him breathe. 

Sammy.

\---

Lance sat huddled at his little brother's bedside. Stupid. This was stupid. Cami sat beside him, clutching Sammy's hands in her own, muttering curses and desperate pleas under her breath.

" _Dios, por favor,_ " Lance overheard her whisper, clutching her little brother's hands to her forehead.

Sarah sat across from them, looking shell-shocked, eyes roving wildly over her brother's newly developed claws to his chillingly still face.

Lance pressed his forehead into the sheets. Stupid. He was stupid to forget about these attacks. Stupid to have forgotten to tell his brother not to go wandering at night. So stupid to have done it himself. A bad example. A stupid example. 

Pidge placed a comforting hand on Lance's shoulder. 

"Miss Eloise is working on a cure," she said awkwardly, trying to fill the space between them. "She knows her stuff."

Hunk patted him on the back. "We're here for you, buddy."

Lance propped his head up on his hands, words refusing to surface on his tongue. After all the exhaustion of the night, he found that he lacked the energy to even shape the sounds of gratitude that he so desperately wanted to communicate to his friends. They got it.

Keith stood furthest from him, at the foot of Sammy's bed. He surveyed the scene with cold, darkened eyes, a careful, measured mask concealing his emotions from the rest of them. Or maybe it wasn't a mask. Maybe Mr. Perfect was too tough and strong to be affected by something so trivial as this. A flash of annoyance flickered through Lance, and a fleeting sense of suspicion hit him. Keith had said something about passing out and waking up to find the victims. He'd found Sammy, too. Lance shook his head angrily, eyes prickling. No way Keith would do that. They were friends now. But. He was acting weird lately. He knew something Lance didn't.

_What is he hiding?_

\---

The next day, in class, Lance found himself unable to concentrate. He sulked in the corner of the classroom while Coran lectured them about the various laws and regulations that accompanied Animagi transformations. 

"Lance. Hello?"

Lance jerked out of his moody reverie as Keith tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" Lance snarled.

Keith looked taken aback. "Um, I just-class is over. So, you want my notes or something? You kind of spaced out. I mean, I can't blame you for it, or anything-"

"No thanks." Lance shoved his books into his bag and sidled away from the desk before Keith could even blink. He felt a tremor of guilt when he caught the flash of hurt in Keith's eyes, but kept walking, refusing to look back.

\---

"Lance, what is going on with you and Keith?" Pidge demanded, setting her bag down on the floor and pointing accusatorially at Lance.

"What?" Lance sat in the library, hunched over a pile of books and scowling down at his homework as though his Potions essay would write itself if he looked at it long and hard enough.

"You know what I'm talking about," Pidge hissed, attempting to lower her volume after receiving a warning glance from Professor Galley, who stood sorting books not far from them. 

"This morning, after Transfiguration, he looked like you'd just pulled his heart out and hammered it into a spike to lay waste to his entrails."

"Woah, dude, what the hell have you been reading? Goddamn, Pidge."

"I'm serious. What the hell."

Lance paused, turning a page thoughtfully before scratching down a few words onto his blank paper. He frowned.

"Look, I just-I feel like he's not telling me something. And what if it's about Sammy? What if he knows something and he's deliberately keeping me in the dark? I just-we're supposed to be friends."

Pidge leaned backwards, raising an eyebrow. She sighed, then looked back at Lance. "And what if it's  _not_ about Sammy and you're being paranoid?"

"Well, then, why is he keeping secrets from me?"

Pidge pursed her lips, looking like she was carefully contemplating what to say. "Lance, there's a lot about Keith we don't know. He's a private person. And this social thing? It's new to him, okay? His secret,  _if_ he has a secret, or  _secrets_ , or whatever, he'll tell us when he's ready. It's not your place to decide what he can and can't keep from you."

Lance scowled down at his book. "But  _why_ isn't he ready?"

Pidge shrugged. "You can always ask him."

"I hate you." 

Pidge laughed. "Yeah. Sure."

Lance grinned, suddenly remembering her birthday.

"Oh hey, wait." Lance reached into his pocket and pulled out a package concealed within his robes. "Happy birthday."

"Ugh, Lance, I totally forgot. You didn't have to-"

"Shut up and open your present."

Pidge ripped open the paper, grinning when her gaze fell on a tiny telescope. 

"The omnioscope!"

"For all your stargazing and gadget-tampering needs," Lance said smugly.

"Thanks, Lance."

\---

Keith sat at the edge of the lake, letting his eyes droop in the soft sunlight. It was finally starting to warm up again, and students had started coming outside more, setting up their homework on the grass, and chatting with friends during free periods. Keith sat alone. About a month had passed since Keith had found Sammy, and in that month, his and Lance's relationship had become strained.

Keith rubbed his eyes, yawning widely. He pulled his knees up to his chest, brushing away the hurt that still blossomed into life when he thought about Lance. That idiot.

He jumped when he heard a thump beside him.

"Hey."

It was Hunk.

"...hey."

"What's up?"

A million answers could've slipped from Keith's lips at that moment. He could've gone with the classic, "nothing much," and left it that. He could've gone with the typical "Oh, you know, school stuff," and been perfectly fine. He could've even mentioned the nice weather as spring approached, but no. Half-asleep, with an ache in his throat, subjected to the sunniness of Hunk's smile and easy friendship, Keith's barriers snapped. 

"Lance is ignoring me." He winced. When did he start sounding so whiny? 

"Yeah, I noticed you guys are talking less. Anything you want to talk about?" Hunk asked, raising a concerned eyebrow.

"No, I-I mean...I think he's mad at me."

Hunk paused, staring thoughtfully out at the lake. He reached out and clapped Keith on the back. "Nah. He's more mad at himself if you ask me."

"What?"

"He's mad. About Sammy. Lance is the kind of guy who subconsciously takes all the blame onto himself, then ends up taking out that frustration on the people around him. The people he cares about." Hunk raised his eyebrows at Keith, letting the gravity of his statement hang in the air for a moment. Keith blushed and turned away, scowling down at the ground.

"Well, I wish he didn't care about me, then. I hate him."

Hunk smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. "Aw, you don't mean that. It's...not ideal, I know. But. He'll come around soon. He's just worried, you know? He loves his family. But that doesn't mean he cares any less about you. About any of us."

"Yeah. I know."

\---

Lance grabbed a lamb chop from the serving plate and plopped it onto his own. He turned to Pidge, who he sat to the left of. 

"See that? This is why I'm alive."

Keith snorted from where he sat on Pidge's right, and Lance leaned over to glare at him. "What? You got a problem with that, mullet?"

"No. You'll have to excuse me for pointing out the fact that humans eat to live, not the other way around."

Lance scoffed. "Whatever."

Pidge groaned and slammed her palm into her forehead. "Ugh, you two are the worst. Jeez. I miss Hunk already."

As if in answer to Pidge's grievance, Hunk came bursting into the Great Hall, settling himself down across from Lance.

"Okay, okay guys. I have a serious thing," Hunk said, breathless.

"Yeah?" Lance asked, curiosity gnawing away at his previous annoyance for Keith. "What is it?"

"Okay, so you know how a lot of parents and people were complaining about the lions, said they were the ones attacking students and stuff? Cuz of the weird fur and teeth marks and all?"

"Yeah?" Keith asked, urging Hunk to continue.

"Well, I was doing some research in the library on like, magical creatures like the Altean lions and if it was possible for that to happen, and I found this!"

Hunk pulled out a fat book with ancient gold lettering on the cover. "It's written in like, really old English," he said, opening it up.

Inside, the pages were worn and yellowing, covered in notes scrawled in ink and old stains.

"This is a really old book," Lance said in awe.

"You think?" Keith said, but his voice lacked the usual venom of his insults. They were too on edge to hear what Hunk had to say.

Hunk pointed excitedly at the page. It read:

_The Chimaera_

_The chimaera is a rare hybrid monster, born with the head and body of a lion, the head of a goat protruding from its back, and a snake for a tail. It is fierce and devious, and has been known to shape-shift, often taking the form of a human in order to charm and get close to its victims._

_Chimaeras tend to attack on a monthly cycle, for once a month their bodies will release deadly hormones that can only be satisfied by the blood of another organism. To attain this blood, chimaeras will confront a victim and allow their snake-headed tails to bite the victim, sucking out their blood while simultaneously injecting them with a paralysing venom to flow through the veins in place of the blood taken. This venom tends to temporarily alter some of the victim's DNA, causing them to grow fur, ears, and claws: characteristics of a lion._

_Eventually, the victim will die due to starvation and lack of water. However, if they are cared for and provided these services, the poison will eventually spread through their entire body and kill them after about 10-12 months. It is slow-acting, but causes an agonisingly painful, drawn out death for its victims, who are kept alive in a state of semi-consciousness for the entirety of this time. The only known cure for a chimaera is very rare, for it requires the ground tooth of the Altean lion, of which there are only five in this world, who are heavily guarded, and can only be approached by the pure of heart._

"The ground tooth of the Altean lion. That sounds really familiar..." Pidge said, frowning thoughtfully.

"Wait, so...this has to be it," Lance said. "It all matches up!"

"It explains why the attacks only happen at the end of the month," Keith said, sounding relieved, "And the bite marks, the fur, and, and everything."

"And the best thing is. Now we know how to cure it," Hunk said excitedly, grabbing a lamb chop.

Professor Coran walked by their table. "Ah, Hunk! I appreciate your avid pursuit of knowledge, but I'm afraid you're not allowed to read books at the table," Coran said, wagging a finger at the children.

Pidge, seeming distracted, nodded. "Oh, uh, sorry Professor. We were just leaving." She stood abruptly, grabbing Keith and Lance by the arm and giving Hunk a pointed look across the table. Hunk gulped down the last of his potatoes and followed her as she dragged the other boys out the door.

In the library, Pidge began rifiling through the shelves of books until she found what she was looking for. She thumbed through the pages and then spread it out on the table.

"I knew it sounded familiar!" she declared, pointing to a potion recipe. "The potion for immortality. The one Zarkon was trying to find the quintessence for last year? Another ingredient in it is the ground tooth of an Altean lion."

"Oh  _mierda_. So Zarkon _is_ behind this!" Lance balled his fists up, feeling the tingle in his chest where the scars from his last encounter with Zarkon lay.

"He must be. Probably sent a chimaera here to pose as a student and attack people so that we would need to use the tooth for the cure," Pidge mused, eyes flitting over the potion ingredients list again.

"And then they were going to steal it," Keith grit out through his teeth. "And leave all those innocent people to die."

"Wow," Hunk sighed, plopping down into a chair. "We have to tell Professor Allura."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh do you hate me yet  
> I know this is super late but I WARNED Y'ALL  
> I feel like this chapter was more for character development and plot advancement than the other chapters. There was very little gay, but trust me, it is coming. There is so much gay.
> 
> Also, so like, the chimaera description is not accurate at all, in accordance with the original Greek myths or actual science, and was literally all devised for my own purposes. So before all you mythology and bio nerds freak out on me, just know that this is all contrived from my illogical gay mind, thank you
> 
> Alrighty so:  
> mijo-my son (slangy)  
> fantasma-showoff  
> Quiera Dios-please God  
> Mierda-shittttttt (Lance is cursing more now lol)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End of year 2-  
> All is well~sort of, welp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There's a tiny bit of violence, but it's not graphic or anything, just like letting y'all know. You can skip the fight scene if you're not into that.
> 
> IM SORRy. THIS TOOK SO MUCH LONGER THAN I EXPECTED IDEK ANYMORE

The four students clambered up the steps until they were standing outside, franitcally knocking at Professor Allura's office door. She appeared a moment later, looking down at the children, a question in her eyes.

"Are you alright? What's going on?" she asked urgently. 

"We have something really important to tell you," Hunk said. "It's about the attacks."

Allura nodded and ushered them inside.

\---

Allura listened intently as the children explained their theory to her, understanding lighting in her eyes as the situation became clear. As soon as they finished, she cast a spell that sent her voice booming across the castle.

"I need all the professors and staff to come join me in my office immediately," she called calmly, but Lance could sense a tightness in her voice, an apprehensive excitement. 

Once all Altea's staff had gathered, Allura recounted the students' findings to them.

"Well, children, I must say I am most impressed. You've really taken charge of your own knowledge," Coran said, peering down at the four kids and stroking his mustache. "I think you all deserve about fifty house points for this."

"No fair, Hunk did all the work," Pidge said, eyebrows raised.

"I mean, we would never have known about the connection to Zarkon if not for you, though, Pidge," Hunk pointed out amicably.

"Now is  _not_ the time," Allura said, hushing the room. "We need to focus on administering the cure. And then we will focus on the chimaera who _somehow_ managed to sneak into my school and pose as a student without my knowing it."

"Coran. You know how to deal with the lions. I need you to find a way to get their teeth without coming in harm's way."

"I already have an idea, Headmistress, but I'll need help."

Professor Hax piped up from beside him. "Allow me."

"Very well. And Miss Eloise, in the meantime, you can start researching the cure to these...chimaera bites."

"I'm on it." Miss Eloise was already running out the door.

Lance paused. "Uh, what should we do?"

Allura looked back at the children, confused. "You can return to your dormitories and wait for us to administer the cure."

"Aw, we don't even get to help after finding out all this stuff?"

"You have helped. Thank you, children." Allura smiled down at them, gaze softening. "I'm very proud of you."

\---

Lance sat in the Gryffindor common rooms, watching the hearth crackle before him. Keith sat on the couch as well, a few feet away from him. Lance felt his gaze flickering up towards him every few seconds, but couldn't bring himself to return it. They were alone. Lance was tired, scared. Something like apprehension roiled in his gut, and he couldn't shake it.

He finally looked up to meet Keith's eyes when a terrible burning pain seized his chest. He cried out, pressing a palm to the three scars. 

"Lance?" Keith closed the distance between them and leaned towards him to peer at Lance's chest. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I-" Lance paused. "I think Professor Coran and Professor Hax are in trouble. I have to go."

"What? You can't know that."

"I know, Keith."

Lance watched Keith pause, taking his lip between his teeth and chewing at it nervously. "You-"

"I know it seems crazy, but-" Lance doubled over gain, gasping as the burning ache surged forward. "Look, I have this  _feeling_ okay? If my scar hurts, that means Zarkon's planning evil stuff right now. I have to do something."

"You can't. You're hurt."

"Right, now you're allowed to be worried about me." Lance let out a sharp laugh, and suddenly couldn't bring himself to look at Keith. Anger burned in his stomach, anger that had been building up for weeks. 

"What?"

"I don't know Keith, you tell me."

"Lance, I-"

"My brother got attacked by a giant evil goat-lion Keith! Why didn't you say anything to me? Comfort me a little? After that night, you got all weird and stopped talking to me. And you know what else? I know you're lying about something. And all I wanna do is help you, and be friends, but-but, you're just pushing me away, like I don't even matter to you. And I know I'm not cool or talented like you, or smart like Pidge and Hunk, but I'm so sick of this, Keith! You can just tell me if you don't want to be friends anymore, okay? Just because we sleep in the same room doesn't mean you have to hang out with me."

"What? Don't be stupid Lan-"

"Oh, of course, I'm being stupid." Lance felt tears threatening to fall from his eyes, and he turned away. "I can't trust you."

Glancing back, he felt a grotesque shadow of triumph at the shocked look on Keith's face, lips turning down and eyes widening, hurt blossoming there like the slow spread of a water spill over a tabletop. Lance wrenched his gaze away from him and stumbled towards the door.

\---

Keith sat in the common room, shock dancing through his veins. It was late, running dangerously close to curfew hours, but he needed to get out of the stifling heat of the dormitories, and work the restlessness out of his feet. He grabbed his invisbility cloak and began running down the stone corridors, letting his feet carry him to whatever corner of the castle they desired.

It was with a quiet breath of realization that he established the fact that he was, all of a sudden, standing outside the hospital wing. He shoved the door in with his shoulder and quietly walked down to Sammy's bed, where he was surprised to see Sarah still sitting. 

"Sarah," he whispered, shedding his cloak. "What're you doing here?"

Sarah jumped at the sound of his voice. "Oh, hey, Keith, you surprised me." She grinned. "Miss Eloise lets me stay here past curfew. 'Cause he's my brother and all." Her smile grew sadder. 

"Where is Miss Eloise?"

"Working like crazy on that cure." Sarah pointed over to the door to Miss Eloise's office. 

"Ah."

"So, what're  _you_ doing here?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, um, I just, couldn't sleep." 

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Lance comes here at night a lot, too."

"Oh?" Keith didn't want to think about Lance right now, yet here he was, visiting his little brother in the dead of night. "I, uh, I didn't notice."

"Yeah, he probably snuck out. God forbid he admit to anyone that he actually cares, right? He's so lame."

"Yeah," Keith agreed, huffing out a laugh that was probably too loud for the moment.

Sarah peered closer at him. "You sure you're good?"

"Yeah." Keith gave her a half-hearted grin to assure that he was okay, but only succeeded in producing an awkward grimace.

"Aaaalrighty," Sarah said, raising an eyebrow and propping her head on her hands, smiling skeptically up at Keith. In that moment, she looked so much like Lance that Keith simultaneously wanted to smile at her and throttle her. 

He rolled his eyes and let his gaze fall on Sammy, who looked pale and vulnerable under the sheets, skin stretched tight over his already skinny frame.

"He'll be okay," Keith said, hearing the words tumble from his lips.

Sarah looked back up at him, a strange intensity in her small, young face. "I know. He has to be."

\---

Keith continued wandering the halls after his visit to the hospital wing, unable to hold his nerves in as he stepped over the stone tiles. He stopped when he noticed a crack of light streaming from one of the classroom doors. He peeked in. Professor Hax's office. 

Keith stepped inside, careful to keep his cloak draped over his body, so no one would see him there. He stepped up to the bookshelf and glanced through some of the titles, his eyes falling on one specific text. 

 _Advanced Techniques and Recipes for the Potion Master,_ it read, and then in the caption below:  _Effects of potions can not be accounted for by the authors or publishers of this book_. 

Keith frowned. Professor Hax must have a real love of potions to possess such an advanced book. But something like suspicion had begun churning in his stomach, and he carefully slid the fat, old book from the shelf.

Keith flipped to a bookmarked page and gasped when it fell open to the potion for immortality.

Throat closing up, he stumbled backward, where he found himself sitting on the ground beneath Hax's desk. There, within the waste paper basket, he noticed little clumps of something gold and shiny. It was fur. Keith jumped to his feet. 

 _Lance_.

\---

Lance trailed Professor Coran and Professor Hax as best he could, but he could see no signs of danger, and he silently cursed himself for getting so paranoid about his dumb scar. Miss Eloise had warned him about lingering pain for years afterwards, simply because of the evil contained within the curse that had struck him.

Lance felt bad for walking out on Keith, but he couldn't bring himself to turn around and apologize like a normal, decent human being. Instead, he soldiered after Coran and Hax, pushing down his guilt in favor of the intrigue ahead. As they were nearing the lion's stables, Coran turned towards Lance's bush and called out, "Lance! I know you're following us. Why don't you come on out?"

Sheepish, Lance crawled out from behind his bush, inwardly groaning. He thought he'd been sneaky enough to get past Coran, but unfortunately not.

Professor Coran's eyes sparkled with amusement and Professor Hax watched, a bit confused.

"Professor I can explain-"

"No need, no need. I must say, I truly admire your academic enthusiasm, Lance. You've always been one of my best students, but now? Showing initiative outside the classroom, eh? A little first-hand experience? Well, all I can say is that your passions will take you far in life."

Lance nodded slowly. "Right."

"Well, tell you what. You can come and watch from behind. Far behind, mind you. Otherwise you might get your head bitten off. It'll be our little secret," Coran said, turning back and winking at Professor Hax, who nodded his assent, smiling faintly.

"Cool! Thanks Professor."

The three continued their way down to the stables, where Coran led the way in, then closed the gate behind them.

Lance surveyed the scene in awe. The lions lounged in their respective stables, pelts glittering as they tossed their heads back in the shifting light. They were more beautiful than Lance remembered. Terrifying in their size and majesty, but beautiful.

 _How could anyone think of them as evil_ _?_ he wondered. 

"Alright, so the trick is. If they trust you, they'll allow you to get close enough to be able to cast this spell. Unfortunately, it can't be cast from a distance. You have to make contact with the subject of your spell, for it takes a lot for even an enchantment as powerful as this to work on so powerful a creature," Coran began, stepping into the blue lion's stable.

"Then, I'll sprinkle her with some powder of the rare Occamy egg, which is made of pure silver. This egg possesses rare calming capabilities and should dull the lions' powers enough for this spell to sedate them. Mind you, this enchantment is usually known to lock a human like you or me in eternal sleep."

Lance nodded, eyes wide in awe. He felt Professor Hax shift next to him.

"Now, I'm going to try and work with Lapis here, since she is the friendliest." Coran approached her warily, stooping down so he was at eye level with Lapis, then gently reached out and placed the tip of his index finger on Lapis' paw. Lapis tensed, growling in the back of her throat, but Coran remained calm, and she soon seemed to relax. Lance couldn't tear his eyes away from her sparkling blue fur as Coran whispered an incantation several times, muttering it under his breath and reaching into his pocket for some sparkling silver powder, which he sprinkled on and around her. Gradually, Lapis' eyes began to close, and Lance watched with wide eyes as Coran gently stroked her paw until she had fallen into a stupor. 

"Now, we can extract the teeth," Coran said, lifitng his wand. 

"Allow me," Professor Hax said, forcefully pushing past Coran. As Lance was brushed aside, he felt a painful tremor in his scar. He frowned. That was weird. He noticed the lions growling angrily, Garnet even letting out an enraged roar as Professor Hax walked past them.

"Oh, they're agitated today," Coran noticed, looking up confusedly. "They must not like that I've put an enchantment on Lapis."

Lance wasn't so sure. He stepped forward and put a hand on Professor Hax's arm.

"Wait. Maybe we should let Professor Coran handle this. It could be dangerous."

Hax shook Lance's hand off. "You don't think I can handle myself? Besides, Coran asked for help."

"I know but-" Lance retreated a little. Maybe he was all wrong. Just being paranoid. But there was something strange about the way Hax had talked just then. Something very un-Hax-like. Lance gasped.

"Professor Coran, don't let Hax near the lions, he's-"

Professor Hax whipped out his wand and immediately petrified Lance and Coran in turn, and Lance was forced to watch Hax from his position on the ground. His eyes would've widened, had they not been frozen in place, as he watched Hax grow about three feet, sprouting golden fur in patches along his body and sprouting two horrible, large lumps that morphed into the head of a goat and a snake for a tail.

\---

Keith watched the chimaera's transformation in horror from where he sat, crouched in the back of the stables. For a moment he sat frozen in shock, before blind anger overtook him, and before he could stop and think about what he was doing, he had thrown off his cloak and was running full charge at Hax. Bad idea.

The chimaera knocked Keith down with one blow, and Keith only just managed to jump out of the way as Hax slammed his heavy paw down into the ground. Keith wiggled through a tight space and climbed atop a wooden shelf on one of the stable walls, He jumped down and found himself on the chimaera's back, dodging the bites of the snake and goat head combined. The chimaera bucked and roared until Keith finally lost his grip, and he was immediately pinned down beneath the chimaera.

That's when it spoke, breath hot and rancid, a remnant of Professor Hax's voice echoing across the stables. 

"Keith Kogane. I should've been expecting you."

The chimaera's claws dug themselves into his shoulders, and Keith winced, his own blood flowing thickly down his arms, breaths coming shallow as he imagined how easily he could be sliced to ribbons. Hax reared back to place a killing bite when Keith saw a flash of gold fly through the air and make contact with the back of Hax's head, making a quiet thunk. Hax winced. He had been hit on the head with something. The chimaera whipped around to see who had thrown the golden object, where he found Lance, somehow standing beside an exhausted Coran, feet apart and hands on his hips.

"Leave him alone!" Lance yelled. Keith took advantage of the moment to do something incredibly stupid. He opened the nearest lion's stable. Garnet, the red lion, lunged forward and pinned him to the ground, and Keith found himself staring, terrified, up into fierce, blazing red eyes. Garnet's body trembled with the ferocity of her snarls, and her teeth were bared before him. For a second, Keith was sure he was going to die, but then Garnet leaped off of him and onto Hax. The two tussled on the ground, tearing away at each other and roaring horribly. Keith watched as Hax's front right leg morphed into an arm, which he shoved into Garnet's mouth. Garnet bit down, but she was too late. Hax pulled a tooth out, triumphant, and immediately vanished.

Keith felt the breath of adrenaline slide from his body as his knees buckled beneath him and Lance was at his side.

"Keith! Keith! Please, please, stay awake. We're taking you to the hospital wing."

Keith's vision clouded, but he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

_Everyone is going to be okay._

\---

Keith awoke in the hospital wing. Lance sat at his bedside, toying with a little golden ball in his hands. It took Keith a moment to recognize it.

"That's the Snitch I gave you for Christmas last year." 

Lance looked up in surprise. "Keith! You're awake!" He grinned. "Yeah. Did you like my awesome stunt with the Snitch back there? Hit Hax straight in the back of the head."

Keith smiled. "You, uh- you carry that around with you?"

Lance faltered. "What? Oh. Yeah. I keep it in my left pocket. All the time." He patted both his pockets, then withdrew his father's chocolate frog card from his right pocket and smiled a little sadly back at Keith. 

"See? So I have some _thing_ special from some _one_ special in each pocket."

Keith's breath stuttered in his chest at the weight of Lance's statement, and Lance blinked back at him sheepishly, suddenly aware of his own honesty. He stared at an indiscernable spot on Keith's sheets.

Keith struggled to break the silence. "So, how did you even manage to get out of that petrification curse?"

"Huh? Oh, Coran, duh. He knows how to do mental magic, you know, without actually saying an incantation. He set us both free with like, his mind powers," Lance said, wiggling his fingers over his head. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Keith nodded. "But how'd you know Hax was the chimaera?"

"Oh. Just a hunch." Lance shrugged his shoulders. "When he was talking to me before he transformed, I noticed he didn't do that weird thing where he asks a question in every sentence. So I figured something was off. And like, the lions were going crazy, so it made sense."

Keith paused. "That's smart."

Lance looked a little flustered at the praise, but attempted a smirk, anyway. "Yeah. I know."

Lance picked uncertainly at Keith's sheets for a moment and then began to speak, his words tumbling forth in a rush. "I uh, I also just wanted to say that I'm really sorry and I was being a total jerk and this is all my fault and thanks for coming to rescue me and stuff." He took a breath of air. "I shouldn't have said all that dumb stuff about you hurting my brother or me not trusting you, and if you don't want to be friends that's cool, but-"

Keith cut him off. "Why would I not want to be friends anymore? You're my best friend, Lance. I...why do you think I almost died to save you back there?" Keith ducked his head, embarassed, but Lance smiled at him, leaning in just a little too close for Keith's liking.

"Really? Okay, good. And, uh, Pidge told me that you would tell me. Your secret. But, like, only when you're ready. So I'm gonna trust you. And wait. Till when you want to tell me, I mean."

"Ah." Keith felt the words die in his throat, so he simply smiled back at Lance, warmth settling in his stomach. "You know, you are smart, and cool, and talented."

"What?" Lance burst out. 

Keith frowned. "Before, when you were yelling in the common room, you said you weren't any of those things, and I-well, you are.  _I_ think you are."

Lance buried his face in Keith's sheets and let out a muffled groan, then came up, smiling. 

Keith's heart skipped a beat. He liked Lance's smile.

"And Lance?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For trusting me."

\---

Miss Eloise had been working hard in the day that Keith had been completely unconscious, and had created the antidote in record time. 

For once, Keith was grateful to be in the hospital wing, where he could help out and watch the others rest and recover instead of going to class. 

Sammy woke first, and Lance, Sarah, and Camilla were immediately called away from class. Keith had enjoyed seeing that crazy reunion. There was a lot of crying, joyous exclamations in Spanish, and Lance dancing around the room like an idiot. Keith would never admit that he liked seeing Lance like that: smile wide and relieved, eyes sparkling with mischief at the promise of his brother's well-being, hips swaying side to side as he twirled around the room, singing a wildly off-key rendition of "We Are The Champions." 

Keith was soon discharged from the infirmary, but he liked to come back with Pidge, Lance, and Hunk, just to ensure the other students' safe return to the waking world as they began to stir from their petrified slumber.

Professor Shiro was back to teaching the last couple months of his Potions classes just days after waking up, while Sammy whined about a pain in his neck and prolonged his stay in the infirmary for a solid two weeks before Camila finally dragged him back to class.

\---

"You four," Shiro said, one day in Potions, nodding at the table where Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Keith were working. "See me after class."

The four children looked at each other uncomfortably, before rounding on Lance, who was most definitely the reason they were getting singled out again. Lance looked back with affected hurt, placing a hand to his heart in protest of their suspicion.

Shiro chuckled. "Don't worry. You're not in trouble."

After class, the four children gathered around Shiro's desk.

"I just wanted to thank you guys. You really saved the day," Shiro said, smiling at each of the kids in turn. "If not for all of you, I'd probably be dead by now."

Lance grinned. "Well, yeah. We're like heroes. Do you think we'll get a parade?"

Keith elbowed him. "It's not about the glory, Lance. We saved people."

"Yeah, well obviously that was the goal, but, like, while we're at it, we might as well have a parade."

Keith rolled his eyes in response. 

"Lance, we're like, twelve," Pidge piped up from beside him. "No one's gonna throw a parade for a bunch of nerdy twelve year-olds."

"Yeah, she's got a point," Hunk smiled apologetically at Lance, giving him a sympathetic pat on the back.

Shiro laughed. "Well, you definitely _deserve_ a parade. Whether or not you'll actually get one is a different story."

Lance sighed. "Lame."

Keith elbowed him again.

\---

Keith stood on the train platform as he bade his friends farewell. 

He could barely stand it. Sammy and Sarah tackled him from either side, Hunk swept him off the floor in a crushing squeeze, and Pidge gave him an awkward half-hug before standing back to straighten her glasses and tell Keith he was an idiot whom she would miss very much.

Camila tugged him into a tight hug, then pulled back and gave Keith an affectionate pat on the cheek. It felt very motherly, and for a moment Keith didn't know what to say, before Camila was grinning and saying, "You'd better come visit us over break, or I won't get to see you next year. I'll be out looking for a job!"

Keith nodded, sure his words were failing him, before Lance's mother stepped up behind him and placed a thin, brown hand on his shoulder. She smiled down at him, and the regal kindness that she emmited was suddenly present all around him.

"I know Lance wants you to come visit," Ms. Sanchez said, ruffling a reluctant Lance's hair.

Keith smiled uncertainly as Lance leaned towards his mother and whined in a hushed tone. "Mamá, me da vergüenza..."

Watching the curve of her lips as Ms. Sanchez broke into a smile, then a laugh, Keith wondered what it would be like to have a mother. His thoughts all but vanished when Lance grabbed him by the hand and pulled him away from his family, giggling away on the train platform. 

"I wanted to say goodbye. For real," Lance said, grinning over his shoulder. He pulled Keith along until they stood in a little corner, squished up close together amidst the throngs of reuniting families.

"Um." For some reason, Keith's heart beat faster than usual, and he found himself unable to drag his gaze from the shadow that Lance's eyelashes cast across his cheeks in the dim, underground light. Lance had a dimple in his left cheek. He leaned in. Too close. Keith flinched.

"Relax, dude."

"I am!" He wasn't.

"Gimme your hand."

"What?"

Lance grabbed Keith's hand, and took it in both of his own. Keith hoped his palms weren't too sweaty. Lance gently pushed something into his palm, Keith's fingers curling at the touch, before Lance released him and he could suddenly breathe again. He looked down to find a scrap of paper with a set of ten numbers scribbled onto it. 

"Lance, is this-"

"Uh huh. I did some research, and I convinced my mom to get a muggle tellyphone so you can talk to Hunk, Pidge, and me without the whole owl issue."

"I-uh-thanks."

"Yeah. Uh, no problem. I'll see you next year?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup so that's year two: DONE (finally)
> 
> Spanish things:  
> Mamá, me da vergüenza-Mooom, you're embarrassing meeeeeee
> 
> Thanks to just-a-crazy-fujoshi on tumblr for translating!!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Year three begins!  
> Keith pines and is gay  
> This year is going to focus a bit more on fluff, backstories, and filling in some gaps in the story.  
> Also angst and new mysteries afoot!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SORRY this took so long omg  
> I've finished my apps and all so I should be able to finally just focus on this damn fic

Keith groaned, head falling back on his pillow. His summer had been delightfully uneventful since the crazy events of the past year, but he was starting to get restless, and, loathe as he was to admit it, he really missed his friends. He imagined seeing them again at the train station-Hunk with his wide smile and arms spread even wider to crush him in a hug, Pidge wearing a smirk, right hand raised in preparation for her customary awkward pat on the back, and Lance... Lance would give him that mischievous smile, blue eyes flickering brightly, tan fingers reaching out to clasp around his shoulders, to pull him in close...

His thoughts were interrupted by a shout from downstairs. 

"Keith! Your magician friends are calling!"

Keith rolled his eyes and slid off the bed. He raced down the stairs excitedly, coming face to face with a very annoyed-looking Aunt Lauren.

"Take it. And tell them not to break my eardrums next time they call."

"Sorry, Aunt Lauren."

"Hmph."

Keith sighed and lifted the reciever to his ear.

"HELLO! IS KEITH THERE? CAN YOU PUT HIM THROUGH PLEASE? MISS YAMADA? THAT'S YOUR NAME, RIGHT?"

Keith stood in shock as Lance's loud, obnoxious voice washed over him for a moment. 

"Lance! Shut up! I told you the first time I called, you don't have to shout!"

"OH UH, SORRY, I JUst-uh, it's hard to get used to this thing."

Lance voice was still a little too loud for comfort.

"Just talk at a normal level, jeez."

"But you're so far away," Lance whined.

"Uh-pretend I'm there."

"Aw man, I wish you were," Lance said with a sigh. Keith's heart stuttered.

"Uh, we-well, um. Me too. I guess."

"Oh, dude, did you get your school stuff yet, cause- Hunk, quit shoving! Guys, c'mon!"

Keith heard scuffling in the background as Lance continued to talk between grunts of effort, his voice growing breathless.

"BeCAUSE, I think we should totally- are you kidding me, Pidge?"

More tussling, and then, after an uncomely shriek (that most definitely belonged to Lance) rang through the air, another voice met Keith's ears.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Hunk!"

"Yeah. Sorry about Lance hogging the phone the whole time. He's not even the one who set it up! It took me ages to figure out how to do it, and then Pidge had to connect it to the muggle phone service."

"Haha, wow." A wave of warmth trickled through Keith at the thought. 

"I provided moral support! It was a group effort!" Keith heard an indignant voice squeak in the background.

"Uh huh. Sure, Lance. Hi Keith." Pidge's voice now floated through the phone and Keith grinned.

"Hey."

"How's it going?"

"Um. Pretty good, I guess. I-" _miss you guys_. The words stuck in his throat even as they swam through his thoughts, his mind blank and chest aching.

"Gimme that!" He heard someone yell, and was suddenly on the phone with Lance again. 

"Anyway, as I was _trying_ to say before I was so rudely interrupted, you should come shopping with us in Diagon Alley. It'll be fuuun," Lance teased over the phone.

"Oh. I'd uh, I'd like to, but I already went, and I doubt Aunt Lauren would let me go again. She's kind of been overprotective after the whole, you know, evil chimaera attacking students incident last year." Keith said, fighting the swooping disappointment in his stomach. 

".....Nooooooo Keeeeeiithhh, buddyyyyy."

"I'm sorry?"

"Noooooooooo."

"What? What'd he say?" Keith heard Hunk whisper.

"Whaddaya think, man?"

"I feel like the 'noooo, Keith, noooooo,' kinda gave it away Hunk," Pidge pointed out.

"Hm. Okay. That's fair."

"We miss you Keith," Hunk said into the phone.

"Yeah. It's kinda boring over here without you," Pidge added.

"Yeah, whatever. You better not flake out on us in September, got it, jerk?" Lance whined.

Keith smiled into the receiver.

\---

"Goodbye, Lance. You'd better not forget to write! And take care of your brother and sister. _Estás a cargo, entendido?_ "

Lance nodded into his mother's collar as she squeezed him tight. " _Te quiero, mijo_ ," she whispered into his hair.

" _Te voy a extrañar, ma,_ " Lance murmured back.

He pulled away from his mother a second before she was bombarded with the twins, Sammy and Sarah rushing into her arms and placing rough kisses on their mother's cheeks.

Feeling a tug on his leg, Lance peeked down to find Cat with her small fingers twisted in the fabric of his shorts, tears wet on her face. 

"I don't want you to go yet," she whined, shoving her face into the hem of his shirt.

"Aw, it's okay, Kit Cat. I'll be back for Christmas." Lance kneeled down to meet his sister's gaze and wrapped her up in his arms, burying his nose in her soft, sandy hair.

"You never come home for Christmas," she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Well, I promise to come home this year. If you promise to write to me all the time, alright?"

Cat nodded and sniffled wetly into Lance's shirt.

"Okay. I promise." She let out a giggle as Sammy and Sarah ambushed her with tickle attacks from both sides, and Lance stood.

He yelped as a hand ruffled through his hair, and turned to glare up at his brother Lucas.

"You're almost too big for me to do that now, huh?" Lucas mused, leaning down and smiling warmly. 

"I'm already too big for that." Lance pouted, but his complaints sounded empty even to himself and he struggled to keep his scowl firmly in place. His father had once ruffled his hair like that, too. 

"Well, too bad. I'm going to keep messing with your scraggly little head of hair until you go bald," Lucas said, running his hands through his brother's hair again and receiving a squawk of protest. 

Lance scowled and let himself get swept up in his older brother's embrace.

"Take care of Sammy and Sarah."

"I know, I know. Mom already said that."

"Good."

Lance slid out of his brother's arms and was tackled a second later by Cami.

"My little Lancey off to Altea without me, I'm gonna miss you so much my brave little bro, you better not forget to write to me every day, okay?"

"Cami, quit smothering me!"

"No. I refuse."

Lance sighed and let himself settle into his sister's suffocating hug.

"I'm gonna miss you," he mumbled into her shoulder. "I kind of, maybe wish you were coming with me so I didn't have to be in charge, like mama and Lucas said."

Cami gripped him tighter.

"Oh, Lance. I kind of maybe wish I was getting on that train with you, too." She pulled away and gave him a small, reassuring smile.

"You know, I think I see someone you're not gonna want to miss," she said teasingly, eyes sliding past Lance to twinkle at someone further down the train platform.

"Wha-what do you-" Lance turned.

So, Lance had already decided. He had made up his mind and was very certain of at least one fact for the next year. And that one fact was that he was most definitely, certifiably, undeniably mad at Keith Kogane. This was the boy who had made Lance wait by the tellyphone for weeks before he finally called. The boy who had not seen him all summer because of his "overprotective aunt," the boy who was no doubt far too busy attending to some very cool, very important Muggle business to talk to him, Lance, the boring wizard boy. But as Lance caught sight of a familiar shock of too-long black hair and pale arms awkwardly poking out of a red t-shirt, he was unable to suppress the excitement that bubbled up within him as he screeched, "KEITH!" and bounded across the platform. The boy in question spun around in surprise, confusion brushing his soft, angular features, before he was barraged by the other boy, and suddenly Lance's arms were full of Keith. Bony, awkward Keith and his dumb hair and stupid eyes and the way he smelled faintly of oranges and summer wind.

"I missed your ugly mullet."

"Shut up Lance," Keith answered, voice cracking.

Lance smiled into Keith's shoulder.

\---

Keith and Lance ambled down the train, rolling their bags along and arguing about the value of different wizarding world games. Keith had been so excited to see Lance in the moment they were reunited, his heart beating out of his chest, Lance's irritating smirk pressed into the crook of his neck in a crushing embrace. But it had taken all of five seconds for Lance to blurt out something stupid and remind Keith why he was actually the most annoying friend that Keith could've had the misfortune of making.

"No way mullet, I'm telling you it's definitely-oh hey, I see Pidge and Hunk." Lance ducked into a train car and Keith followed suit, rolling his eyes.

As he stepped in, he was surprised to find himself face to face with... two Pidges? No. One looked slightly older; he was taller, his hair cut slightly shorter, with a longer face and sadder eyes.

"Hey Keith. This is my brother, Matt," the younger Pidge piped up from beside Matt.

"Oh. Um. Hi," Keith hurriedly introduced himself, shoving his hand out to shake Matt's.

"Hi, Keith. It's nice to meet you. I'm going to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Altea."

"Cool."

Matt smiled kindly up at Keith, who realized he was still standing and quickly plopped down into the seat opposite him.

"Wait wait, you're teaching this year?" Lance asked, leaning over Hunk to peer at Matt.

Matt nodded, an action that made his glasses slide a little further down his nose. He was the spitting image of his sister, Pidge. Or rather, Pidge was the spitting image of him, and Keith watched in amazement as they sat side by side, pushing their glasses up their noses in unison. 

"Whoa, that's gonna be awkward for you, Pidge," Lance speculated, a mischievous smile flashing over his face.

"No way. It's gonna be awesome. We'll rule this school like the evil geniuses we are."

"Don't flatter yourself, Pidge. You're more of a mildly malignant nerd if we're being accurate here."

Pidge stuck her tongue out at Lance and Matt laughed good-naturedly. 

\---

The train ride continued into night, and Lance found himself comfortably wedged in between Keith and the window, which he could barely see out of in the darkness. Hunk, who was dozing on Keith's shoulder, snorted in his sleep. Lance, smirking, leaned over Keith's head to poke at the corner of Hunk's mouth, where he was beginning to drool, and Keith let out a soft snort as the train came to a grating halt.

"Oh, sweet. Are we there?" Lance leaped up and pressed his nose to the glass, and Hunk jerked awake off of Keith's shoulder. Outside, Lance could barely make out a vast, unfamiliar field, with a glassy black pond a few hundred feet away from the train. He squinted as a dark shape whisked by. 

Pidge's voice said from behind him, "We shouldn't be there yet. The train ride typically lasts about 6 hours and 23 minutes."

Lance, puzzled, pulled away from the window. "Yeah, we're uh, definitely not there yet."

Hunk, shivering in the frigid air, scrunched his eyebrows up in concern. "Well, we definitely couldn't have just broken down, because the train runs on magic... I don't know, something seems wrong here, guys. Like, really wrong."

Keith remained silent, tensing up ever so slightly, and Lance noticed him carefully draw his wand.

They could hear shouts and whispers from the surrounding compartments, but they sat crouched in the dark, Lance nervously eyeing the frost that crept up over the windows and breathing carefully around the thudding of his heart in his chest. Goosebumps danced up his arms and he pressed into Keith for a reminder of the others around him. 

He caught his breath as a dark, cloaked figure floated towards them along the corridor, his heartbeat freezing in his chest as the door to their compartment slid open. Could Zarkon be here...? No, the figure, swathed in black, reached out a scabbed hand of glistening grey and Lance saw images flash before him. The day of his father's funeral, his fingers digging into Lucas' arm while his mother tried to hide her tears, the day Cat broke her arm falling off her broomstick in the backyard, seeing Sammy cold and broken in a hospital wing bed, the memory of Zarkon standing over him, his chest constricting with pain as the scars took shape across his chest. Lance pressed a hand to the three slashes, trying to steady the lingering burn that flared up within them.

He felt Keith stiffen beside him and tore his gaze away from the black creature. Keith was staring wide eyed at it, his face twisted in something like fear, body shaking in spasms.

"Keith?" Lance shouted. He attempted to shake the boy out of his reverie, and jumped to put himself between his friend and the black creature. At that moment, Matt stood and cast a spell with a determined swish of of his wand. Bright silvery light shot out of the end and pushed the thing back, until they were all left, shaken but unharmed in the train compartment. Lance turned to Keith just in time to see his eyes roll back in his head and his body collapse onto the seat.

\---

Keith awoke in the hospital wing with Lance, Pidge, and Hunk surrounding him. He bolted upright. 

"Am I-how long was I out?"

"Only like an hour or so. We just got here," Hunk supplied, placing a calming hand on Keith's shoulder. Miss Eloise appeared at the foot of Keith's bed looking slightly disgruntled, with Shiro at her side.

"Shiro!" Keith weakly pushed himself up in bed, feeling a smile overtake his face.

"Hey, buddy. How was your summer?"

"Um, you know. Good."

"That's good to hear. You feeling alright?" Shiro placed a gentle hand on Keith's forehead.

Keith nodded. "Um, yeah. Kinda dizzy, I guess."

With a quiet laugh, Shiro said, "Well good thing you're in bed then." 

He smiled at Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. "And you're lucky to have such a supportive group of friends," he added, resting a hand on Lance's shoulder.

Miss Eloise let out a huff from behind the others as she busied herself at the foot of Keith's bed.

"Well, I guess it's nice to see you again, Mr. Kogane, but couldn't you stay away until at least October? I already see all of you children in here enough." She shoved a large piece of chocolate into Keith's arms.

"Eat this."

Keith dutifully ate and the numbing chill that he hadn't realized had gripped his body seemed to vanish and was replaced by a flood of warmth from the chocolate. He chomped down, suddenly ravenous. 

"Umm...what-what happened?" he asked, after pausing to breathe. 

"You totally fainted," Lance said with a smirk Keith could tell was forced. Pidge elbowed him and Lance's smile faltered. 

"Those things that attacked are called dementors," Pidge answered, taking a shaky breath. "Professor Allura said that they're going to be protecting the school since we've been attacked so much recently. The rest of the wizarding world has been living in peace since Zarkon disappeared, but some people are worried about his followers playing out their revenge on the school."

"The dementors-they uh, they feed off of bad memories," Hunk said sympathetically. "And they went after you specifically."

"...oh."

Keith could barely remember what he'd seen in that moment, remembered a flash of light, a battle cry, blood spatters across the floor, and an unbearable pain that now made him gasp at the memory. He shivered.

\---

Lance strolled along the schoolgrounds with Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and the rest of the class. The grass was still wet with dew beneath their feet and the sun sprinkled them through the trees as they neared the edge of the woods, where Professor Coran was leading them.

"Oh man, how excited are you guys for Care of Magical Creatures?" Lance asked, elbowing Hunk in the chest.

"Eh, speak for yourself. I'll pass on the big scary monsters that wanna kill us. I wouldn't put it past Coran to introduce us to some kinda deadly viper dragon and be like, 'back in my day, we used to play with these things in the streets. Then we killed them and used them as laxatives,'" Hunk put on a fairly convincing Australian accent in a mimicry of their Professor and Lance snickered. 

"Well, I'm great with animals and I _will_  be using my amazing skills to woo all the ladies," Lance replied with a wink at Nyma, a Slytherin girl in their year. Nyma giggled and turned to whisper something to her friend.

Lance felt an elbow in his side and turned to see Keith growl through gritted teeth, "What are you doing?"

"Um, wooing the ladies? What does it look like?"'

"Like you're being an idiot," Pidge piped up from Keith's other side.

"Aw come on, you guys. We're hormone-riddled adolescents! We must seize the chance for action, romance, drama!"

Keith scoffed. "Like you're not already the biggest drama queen imaginable."

"Keeeeith, don't take this away from me. I'm thirteen. _Officially_ a teenager."

"Officially an asshole, maybe," Keith muttered.

"Ooh, Keith cursed. I'll have to report you to Professor Coran," Lance teased. 

"Oh, really? I thought you said we were officially teenagers-"

"Oh my god, would you two please, just, shut up?" Pidge grumbled from where she and Hunk were now standing, observing Keith and Lance's petty argument with mild concern. "Class is about to fucking start."

Keith and Lance looked at each other. "Ooh, Pidge cuuuuursed."

"Shut up!"

They did quiet down because at that moment, Coran emerged from the lions' stables, carefully guiding Lapis, the blue lion. Lance shivered as her gaze met his, and for a moment he thought he saw her eyes twinkle and nose twitch in amusement before she turned to look directly ahead with an almost haughty flick of her maw. Lance stared. 

"Well, class, welcome to Care of Magical Creatures. Today I thought I'd introduce you to the famed magical lions of Altea. Now, you'll only be getting to meet Lapis today, since she is the friendliest, and the least likely to bite your head off."

At that comment, the class all seemed to take a collective step backwards, but Lance weirdly felt himself drawn forward by the intensity of Lapis' gaze on him.

"Well, I suppose Lance can go first then. Now remember, in order to stay safe, one must keep their purest intentions in mind. Now, we all know that morality is subjective, but for the lions it's very simple. They value honesty, the wish not to harm others, and purity of one's purpose. Now keep in mind these three things as you approach and she may just let you give her a pat. But only if I give you the all clear."

Lance nodded and swallowed slowly. He took a step forward. Then another. Lapis beckoned, eyes glittering with laughter, affection? 

"Slow down now. It's typically at this distance that she begins to show signs of hostility," Coran warned. Lance slowed, but only just. He kept walking.

"Oh, very good. Looks like she's decided not to kill you. I'm most impressed." 

Lance grinned, but it slipped from his face as Lapis let out a growl and leaped forward suddenly. 

"Lance!" he heard a shout, and suddenly Coran was dragging him away by his armpits, there was a crushingly heavy weight on his chest and his face was very...wet.

He blinked open his eyes to see Lapis staring down at him, flicking her long pink tongue across his cheek.

Coran's grip on him loosened.

"Oh my-" his Professor sounded shocked.

"Lance. I-I do believe we have witnessed something truly historical here today, class!" Lance could hardly make sense of what was going on. He struggled to sit up, giggling into Lapis' sparkly blue fur when she roughly licked his forehead.

"What?" Lance heard from the crowd.

"Well, children, I believe Lapis here has chosen Lance to form one of the deepest most ancient, magical bonds in the wizarding world. You are what we call a 'paladin,' Lance. A great wizard chosen to be bound to their lion. Professor Shiro, as some of you may know, is bonded to the black lion, so I suspected the others would find their paladins soon enough. They tend to seek out important bonds in times of great need." Coran gushed excitedly. "I never dreamed it would happen in my lifetime. To one of my own students, no less. I hope you know this now makes you partly reponsible for Lapis, Lance. She hasn't bonded with a witch or wizard in 200 years."

Lance's head spun with this new information, and he shot a glance over at Keith, Pidge, and Hunk, who stood with the rest of the crowd. For a moment, there was nothing discernable from the looks of awe they were giving him and the rest of the students'. Lance felt strangely isolated, and he suddenly wished it wasn't him up in front of the class. What could he do in a time of great need? Now he suddenly had responsibilities? He was a thirteen year old, sure, technically a teen, but also technically a kid. He couldn't help people. He could barely even cast a shield spell properly in Charms. It was the people like his friends in the crowd, the people he spent years looking at with the same awe they looked at him with now, who deserved to be up here. Not him. 

Then Keith's face twisted into a smirk. "Are you sure this lion knows what she's doing?" he questioned.

Lance stuck his tongue out at Keith, relief washing over him at their usual banter, even if it was forced. He felt Lapis' nose bump his cheek as she radiated warmth and comfort, sending a foreign kind of love that was not his own brushing through his mind. She seemed to say,  _Soon, young paladin. Soon you will understand._

Lance hoped she was right.

On the walk back up to the school, Keith nudged an abnormally quiet Lance.

"She's got good taste, you know," Keith said, smiling softly. "For a senile old cat."

"Screw you, Keith."

Lance couldn't fight the grin that spread over his face.

\---

"It'll be okay, Lance. You don't want your nerves to affect your performance, right?" Keith tried to place a reassuring hand on Lance's shoulder as they made their way down to the quidditch pitch. Lance bounced along, biting his lip in that way he did when he felt anxious.

"That's easy for you to say. You're already on the team!" Lance snapped in response. "Youngest Seeker in a century," he mimicked, voice cracking on the change in pitch.

Keith glared. "Yeah, because of you, remember?" he said. 

Lance shrugged petulantly, lacking his usual bravado.

Keith sighed. "You'll be fine. I don't know what else to say. You're a really great flier, okay? I've seen you. A-and if they can't see that then it's their loss, because there's no way we'll be able to win this year without you."

Lance paused, staring straight ahead as they reached the field. He turned to Keith with a small, nervous smile. "I mean, I  _am_ a pretty good flier," he conceded.

Keith rolled his eyes. "Uh huh."

"And I guess if they don't wanna piece of this, they can get their asses kicked by Slytherin. No offense."

"None taken."

Lance plunged his hand into his robes and pulled out the little golden Snitch that Keith had given him two years ago. He pressed a kiss to its surface, and pulled it back to admire it. 

"For luck," he said, tucking it back into his pocket. "Thanks Keith." With that, he turned away, smirking over his shoulder as he dashed to meet the rest of the team for tryouts. 

Keith stared after him, suddenly feeling entirely too hot under his robes. A flush began to work its way up his neck, and he ambled hesitantly after Lance, stumbling a little as he glared at the grass.

_What._

_\---_

"Aw man, you shoulda seen it. I scored three in a row! And for the last one, I did this awesome flip in midair, and I spun around my broom and kicked the quaffle in!" Lance bragged excitedly over dinner, intermittently shoving chicken in his mouth while recounting the events of the day's Gryffindor quidditch tryouts.

Keith grinned next to him, his face still pink from the excitement of the day. "Yeah. It was pretty cool. Stephanie's jaw dropped open on that last kick."

Lance beamed, and Hunk shook his head sadly. "Aw dudes, now that Lance is on the Gryffindor quidditch team too, I'm even more conflicted about who to root for. My best friends, or my awesome house mates??"

"Whatever. It's just a bunch of kids kicking a ball around in the air. What's the big deal?" Pidge shrugged, giving her salad a poke.

Lance gasped. "Pidge! You have offended the very essence of my being."

"Good."

"Rude."

\---

Lance lay awake, staring at the canopy of his fourposter bed. The light of the almost full moon glinted through the window, and he wondered if it was getting close to midnight.

Keith was much quieter than usual. He usually slept fitfully, crying out in the night and shifting restlessly under the blankets. This year Lance had noticed Keith's nightmares getting worse, and he wondered if it had anything to do with the dementors that had attacked them on the train. Lance shivered at the thought. He hated those things. They would sometimes float around the halls as they neared curfew hours, or hang out in the shade near the lake. 

Lance jumped when he heard Keith shift in his bed, moving to get up.

"Keith?"

Keith turned to stare at Lance with wide eyes, looking like he had been caught raiding the school kitchens.

"What are you-where are you going?" Lance asked hesitantly.

"Oh, I uh, it's you know, getting towards the end of the month, so I figured I should go to the hospital wing." Keith scratched his arm, looking down distractedly.

"Um, okay. Want me to walk you there?"

"N-no. I can go myself. I don't want you getting in trouble."

"...Alright."

"Yup. So, uh, bye then."

"Okay. Feel better soon."

"Thanks Lance."

Lance stared at the doorway where Keith had disappeared. For a moment, he considered following him anyway, but decided against it, electing instead to burrow down in his sheets and give in to his tiredness.

 _I hope Keith is okay_ , he thought sleepily. _There can be some pretty dangerous creatures around Altea at night._

_\---_

"Okay class, I'm going to need you all to line up here," Professor Holt, or "Pidge's brother," as the class often called him, instructed.

Keith scrambled to get in line in front of a large, mahogany wardrobe.

Matt began talking to the class with a wave of his hand. "Alright, so in this lovely old wardobe here we have one of Altea's resident boggarts. They like to lurk in dark spaces and take the shape of our deepest fears, but they're pretty easily dealt with using the cure to most fear: laughter."

Lance gave Keith a nudge from behind, whispering, "Ooh, laughter, huh? Well, Keith, you can't be good at everything."

Keith sent him a glare over his shoulder and turned back to the front.

"Now, I do love a good chapter of assigned reading," Matt began again with a collective groan from the class, " _But,_ I believe that the best way to learn how to defend yourself is, well, through defending yourself. So, I'm going to teach you the inacantation, let this guy loose, and see what happens. Sound good?"

Keith nodded in excitement along with the rest of the class, a thrill of nerves rushing through him.

"Okay, so the key is to think of something funny."

Matt began to lead the class through a quick tutorial, and Pidge leaned in towards Keith, whispering. "Hey, isn't my brother like, the best teacher ever? Way better than Haggar or Hax."

"To be fair, they _were_ both evil," Hunk pointed out, nudging in to their conversation from beside Keith. 

"Well, Matt's an expert. He's been traveling the _world_ studying magical creatures way more dangerous than boggarts," Pidge said with a toss of her head.

"Alright, class, since you all seem too well-informed to have to pay attention to the lesson," Matt said with an accusatory glance at Keith and the others in the back, "Why don't we have little Pidgey come up and demonstrate for us?"

Pidge blinked in slow motion, then turned and glared at where Hunk, Lance, and Keith had started snickering.

"Go on, little Pidgey. We believe in you," Lance snorted.

"I change my mind," Pidge growled, straightening her glasses. "I hate him. Worst teacher ever."

She stepped up to the front of the class, where Matt, looking smug, opened the wardrobe with a flourish. 

Keith watched in fascination, other students elbowing to get a better look around him, as the boggart twisted in the air, flashing through blurred images, before settling into the shape of Professor Allura, Shiro, Matt, and what looked to be Pidge's parents.

"I'm sorry, Katie," Allura began, "But I'm afraid you've failed to meet our expectations. Perhaps you're a bit too young to handle magic, after all. You can't do it."

It felt a little too personal as Keith watched the adults turning their backs on Pidge, shaking their heads in disappointment, but Pidge remained calm, saying, "Riddikulus," without hesitation. 

Shiro immediately swiveled his head around and began swinging his hips in time to an incredibly offkey rendition of "Take On Me," and was quickly joined by the others. Keith stared in horrified amusement as Pidge's boggart version of Matt started doing a very undignified rendition of the worm. 

The room erupted in laughter and Keith didn't miss the flash of pride in Professor Holt's eyes before he quickly cleared his throat and yelled, "Next!"

As more students rushed in to take on the boggart, Lance leaned in to Keith, breath hot on his ear. 

"Looking a little nervous there, Keith. You scared?"

"No," Keith growled, grip tightening on his wand.

"You suuure? I bet I can get more people to laugh than you can."

Keith scoffed in response. "You mean more than they usually do when they see you walking down the halls?"

Lance stuck his tongue out, eyes suddenly widening as a girl (Keith thought her name was Anna?) accidentally knocked into him from behind.

"Oh. Sorry, Lance."

"No problem at all, _hermosa_ ," Lance purred, ducking his head and placing a hand to his heart in some gesture of chivalry. It was very annoying. Infuriating, really, Keith thought as he watched Lance's eyes flick back up to look at her, the corners of his smug smile turning up minutely when he found her eyes still on him. Keith had to resist the urge to grab Lance around the neck and throttle him to death.

Anna smiled and rolled her eyes a little before turning back to her friends. 

Grinning, Lance turned back to Keith to find him glaring rather pointedly. 

"What?" Lance asked. "Jealous of my moves?"

Keith forced his answer out through grit teeth. "What moves?"

"Jealous," Lance sang, tossing an arm over Keith's shoulders. Tensing, Keith felt something hot and dark twist in his stomach when he caught Anna's gaze lingering on Lance again, and he fought back the urge to lean into the other boy's touch, tighten his grip around his waist.

 _What the hell?_ Keith stared at the ground, feeling heat from his stomach prickle outward along his skin.  _What's wrong with me?_

"Keith?" Professor Holt's voice dragged Keith out of his stupor and he stepped forward. Lance shoved him forward, grinning. "Good luck,  _Kogane_. You'll need it."

"Shut up,  _McClain_ ," Keith muttered over his shoulder.

As he turned to face the boggart, a single thought came to mind.

_Shit._

What was he afraid of? In the excitement of the class, he had forgotten to plan out a proper course of action to deal with whatever it was that scared him the most. So he stood, waiting for the boggart to pick through his subconscious and take the form of his greatest fear. With breath caught between his throat and chest, he watched as the boggart morphed into a dark, hooded figure, and a slimy grey hand stretched out towards him.

The temperature in the room dropped and a hush fell over the rest of the students as the energy seemed to drain from their surroundings. Keith's breaths were shaky, and suddenly it was happening again. Memories flooded around him; a scream danced on the edge of his vision, blood slashed across the floor, and he was enveloped in a sense of unbearable pain. His knees buckled at the fire in his limbs, and he struggled to blink moisture out of his eyes. 

What the  _fuck_? Was he crying? When did that happen? 

His memories were a swirl of hurt, a swooping panic, and a wash of sentiment that things would never be the same. He was trapped forever, and the claustrophobia of it clogged up his throat.

 _I-I lost something_ , he thought desperately, trying in vain to grasp at coherent thoughts.

"Keith? Keith!" A hand was on his shoulder, a familiar voice in his ear, and Keith grabbed frantically at the thin brown hand hovering near his face. He sought comfort in the rough brush of skin against his palm, the dull pain of freshly-cut finger nails digging into his shoulder, when everything else was blurring out of focus.

"Keith. You're gonna be okay. Everything is okay," Lance murmured into his hair, because it had to be Lance. Of course it was Lance.

Keith shuddered against his chest and flickered out of consciousness.

\---

Lance sat watching Keith in their room as the other boy awoke, blinking in the sunlight streaming from his window, his inky black hair a tangled mess as he struggled to lift his head from the pillow.

"What-What happened?" Keith rasped, rubbing his eyes.

Lance winced. "Miss Eloise said that you had, like, a panic attack from childhood trauma that the dementor reopened. She said to just take you back here and wait for you to wake up."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"How long was I out?"

"Like an hour. Shiro gave us a pass from Potions today."

"Sorry."

"Ugh, Keith, don't- _don't_ apologize. I just-you don't deserve this stupid crap."

Lance glanced down at his hands, gaze flicking back up to Keith, who was staring at him with a strange intensity behind his dark eyes. Lance swallowed, suddenly nervous. 

"Y-You should get some rest. Maybe go back to sleep. I'll stay here."

"...You don't mind?"

"Are you kidding? I get to skip class, man."

"But you love Potions."

"Meh. I just dislike it slightly less than the other classes."

Keith snorted. "Sure. 'Cause you hate school sooo much."

"Are you calling me a nerd, Kogane?"

"Is there something wrong with me stating a fact?"

Lance pouted, trying and failing to keep his frown in place. "Whatever. Just go to sleep already, jeez."

With eyes soft but tired, Keith leaned back in his pillows, grumbling. 

Lance watched him, the pale curve of his jawline and the halo of thick black hair shifting around his head. The fan of his eyelashes cast long shadows over his cheekbones in the sliver of sunlight that glimmered from the window. Lance stared, throat dry. 

It unsettled him to see Keith fall to his knees, weak in the presence of that dementor. Lance shivered at the memory of him with tears in his eyes, voice desperate as he shuddered into Lance's chest. Keith was strong, smart, talented. He was the one who always got the spell right on the first try, dove headlong into danger without fear, was strong and steady and dependable. 

He certainly did not curl up on the ground in tears when he should be fighting off a monster. Remembering the quiver of Keith's shoulders and the frantic way he had snatched at his hand, Lance reached into his pocket to pull out his father's chocolate frog card. He let his thumb smooth over its worn surface, and felt a hot surge of _something_ blossom in his chest and burn in his throat. 

Keith was his rival. Maybe that's why this bothered him so much. Lance had to fight to be better than Keith. He had to work to catch up. And now Keith thought he could just lie down in front of the dementors and let them bully him back into his old, painful memories? No way. No way was Lance going to let that happen. 

\---

Lance sped through dinner with the others. As Hunk fretted over Keith, making sure he was eating enough and asking if he was okay, Pidge leafed through a book about dementors.

"Ugh. I can't believe that happened in front of everyone," Keith grumbled from his seat. "So humiliating."

"No, dude. Matt totally passed it off as badass. He was like, 'Dementors prey on those with the most painful memories and the strongest minds. Keith clearly has been through a lot. Don't be a dick to him,'" Pidge supplied helpfully. "I mean, it's not your fault."

"Yeah, most of the students couldn't have been affected by their fears the way the dementors have an affect on people," Hunk added. "I mean, everyone knows you literally attacked a chimaera last year in a barn full of killer lions. They're not about to call you scared or anything."

"They're not  _killer lions_ , man. They just don't like evil people," Lance interjected.

"Oh forgive us Lance, we didn't mean to point any fingers at your precious Lapis," Pidge smirked.

Hunk frowned. "Anyway, Keith. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Ugh. I know, I just-"

"Keith. Chill. You messed up one time. You can't be perfect at everything. Enjoy this. Think of it as a learning experience," Lance supplied from where he sat.

"I  _don't_ think I'm perfect all the tim-"

Lance cut Keith off. "Shush. Shh. It's okay, Keith. We're all here for you."

"Shut  _up_ , Lance."

"Nah."

Hunk gave Lance a look, bordering somewhere on "I know you're trying to help but stop." Lance shrugged, shoveling the rest of his food in his mouth before abruptly standing. 

"I'm going to visit Lapis. Don't wait up."

"Ooh, Lance is off to have some special bonding time with his magic lion."

"Screw you Pidge."

Lance took off down the halls, and instead of turning down the exit to visit the lions, he continued on to the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's office. He rapped on the door until he heard a soft, "Come in," from the other side.

Professor Holt's office was covered from wall to wall with bookshelves. They were mostly covered in books, but some shelves held samplings of the many wonders Matt had no doubt collected during his travels.

He looked up from where he sat reading at his desk.

"Oh. Lance. What can I do for you?"

"I want to learn how to fight off the dementors."

Matt stared for a moment in confusion.

"Oh. Is this about what happened today in class? Pidge did tell me you and Keith were close. I understand if you'd want to protect him."

"What? No. I don't want to _protect_ him." Lance spluttered, feeling his face heat up. "We're rivals! I wanna know how to fight the dementors away so I can be better than him at something! And I can totally kick his ass at fighting those ugly jerks."

Matt raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Oookay."

"And I just. I don't-I can't beat him if he's weakened by the dumb dementors. I won't let him go through that again." Lance glared at the ground, his neck prickling.

"...Right. Of course." Matt shut the book, smiling up at Lance. 

"Well, okay. So the spell I'm going to teach you is called the Patronus charm. I'll start by giving you some reading on it. Okay?" Matt stood and grabbed a book from the shelf.

Lance nodded, jaw set in determination.

"Got it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the year of the pining Keith! And flirty Lance lel. Dw Keith is his forever boy
> 
> So anyway, this chapter is a bit of a filler but it's prepping y'all for plot later on so get hype.  
> The werewolf thing will be addressed SO SOON. I know its been too long and im v mad at myself for taking so long to update im sORrY
> 
> SPANISH:  
> Estás a cargo, entendido?--You're in charge now, got it?  
> Te quiero, mijo--I love you, son/dear/pookiekins idk  
> Te voy a extrañar, ma.--I'll miss you mom (Lance is such a goddamn momma's boy ok fite me)  
> Hermosa-beautiful (shut up lance)
> 
> thanks to [just-a-crazy-fujoshi](http://just-a-crazy-fujoshi.tumblr.com) for translating, as always
> 
> Also um, you guys have stuck with me long enough I feel like I can trust you with my tumblr.  
> It's [@awkward-gimble]() if ya wanna go there and yell at me for never updating or whatever ( T - T )
> 
> So, I'm kinda thinking of not killing off the character that I was originally going to kill? Becuase i love them so much and my heart can't take it, and the plot can still like, sort of work. LIke sort of, I guess, lmao. But yeah, turns out I'm too weak to kill my darlings, whaddaya know.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The third year continues  
> Lance bonds with his lion  
> Keith goes to Lance's for Christmas :3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THis is a really fucking long chapter you guys  
> It's so long  
> damn  
> Also trigger warning-there's some mention of blood/violence in the very last section of the chapter, but nothing major

Lance sprinted across the grass in the new light of day, sneakers sliding over the white frost that had yet to melt with the rising sun. He hopped down the steps to the lions' stables.

Professor Coran and Allura had taken him here his first time and shown him the spell to unlock the stables when visiting. Maybe he was still a bit uncomfortable knowing that this meant he had a whole lot more repsonsibility, knowing that students were watching him warily in the halls, expecting him to start leaking ancient magic, but it was worth it when he came down to the stables alone in the chilly dawn, to snuggle up near Lapis, listen to the shifting of her sparkling fur and brave the fierce gazes of the other lions.

Lance whispered the spell to open the stable and stepped in, finding himself not quite as alone as he'd hoped, staring at Professor Shiro, who was leaned over Ebony's pen, smiling slightly and talking in hushed tones. The black lion rumbled low in her chest and stretched up to press her nose to Shiro's forehead.

Lance shifted awkwardly in the hay, and Shiro turned, startled.

"Oh, Lance. I uh, didn't expect to see you here so early."

"I usually come in the mornings."

Shiro gave him a funny smile and turned away from Ebony. "Me too," he said, crossing his arms. "It's much more peaceful at this time of day."

"Yeah. Even I like the quiet sometimes."

Shiro chuckled and began making his way to the exit. As he passed, he placed a hand on Lance's shoulder.

"I'm proud of you for doing this, you know that? I know it can seem like a lot at first. But trust me, it's worth it."

Lance nodded. "I mean, it's actually pretty fun, I guess."

"For sure. Lapis will teach you a lot."

A nervous grin spread over Lance's face. "Thanks Shiro," he said. "Uh, you don't have to leave just 'cause I'm here."

"No no," Shiro said, shaking his head with a smile. "I have to prepare for class today. We're learning how to make the antidote for flesh wounds. Pretty handy stuff."

"Sounds exciting."

"See you later, Lance."

"Bye, Professor."

Lance pushed open the gate to Lapis' pen and let her reel him in with her powerful tail. She was warm and fluffy, and Lance buried his face in her side.

"I have my first quidditch match today," he mumbled into her fur, feeling the rumbling of her purrs all around him.

"I guess I'm kinda nervous," he whispered, quieter than before.

He felt a presence in his mind, curling comfortingly around his nerves, and startled when Lapis whipped her head around to meet his gaze. Lance found himself lost in the swirling blue of her glare. 

_Show me, then. Your strength comes from more places than you may think._

_\---_

For a moment, Lance was falling in infinite darkness, and the next, he was standing in his kitchen. It was dark outside, and exhaustion tickled his eyelids. He took a step toward the cabinets, in search of something to eat, when he realized that he was suddenly far too short to reach them. 

 _What? When did I-_ Lance looked down at his hands, tiny and brown, and gasped. He was younger. A memory?

Jumping at a creak on the staircase behind him, he swiveled his head around before stopping dead, his heartbeat freezing in his chest when he locked eyes with his father.

_Oh._

He was exactly how Lance remembered him, smile wrinkles around his mouth and eyes, sandy hair tossed in different directions, his pointed nose, his eyes. They were a piercing blue that Lance could make out from across the kitchen, the blue of his own gaze when he looked in the mirror.

"Lance? What are you doing up so late?"

"I-I couldn't sleep." Little Lance's voice was high pitched, his mouth still a little inexperienced around the words he formed.

His dad gave a sympathetic smile, the left corner of his mouth twitching up, and he made his way across the kitchen to ruffle Lance's hair.

"Can I sleep with you and mommy?"

"I don't think mommy would be so happy about that. I thought you said you're old enough to sleep by yourself now," his dad said, raising an eyebrow.

"I am," Lance retorted, pouting and crossing his arms. "But sometimes I don't want to."

"Ah well. I don't like sleeping alone either."

"So I can?" Lance asked eagerly, clinging to the fabric of his father's pants.

"Afraid not, bud. I have to go now."

"Where are you going?" Lance asked, tilting his head to the side.

Carefully, his dad kneeled down so he could meet Lance's gaze on the same level. He smiled, small and sad. "I-uh, well, I have something important to take care of."

"What kind of something important?"

His father laughed. "I can't tell you that. It's super top secret crime-fighting info." He reached out to tickle Lance's sides and they fell to the ground in a heap of giggles.

"Daaad," Lance whined, struggling to get free of the tickles.

His father rocked back on his heels and pulled something from his pocket. 

"Okay, okay. You know what helps me sleep at night?" he asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Chocolate."

Lance gasped, taking the chocolate frog with excitement. He ripped it open and grinned at the familiar face on the card.

"This one's you!"

His dad chuckled a little. "Well, isn't that lucky? You know what this means right?"

"What?"

"You have to keep that one until you can get to be on your own chocolate frog card," his dad said, leaning forward smugly.

Lance rolled his eyes, "You have to be super famous for that. Like, soooo famous."

"Exactly. Just wait. One day I'll have to share my chocolate frog card title with you, the great Lance McClain."

"I'm gonna keep it forever," Lance said solemnly.

"Good. That way I can always keep an eye on you. Can't have you getting into trouble without me."

Lance let out a little snort and shyly tucked the card in his pocket.

"Don't tell mama, okay? It'll be our secret," his dad said with a smile, although this time, it looked different. The light had faded out of his eyes as his father smiled hollowly back at him. Lance shivered.

"When are you coming back?" he asked, because suddenly Lance couldn't stand the thought of his father leaving, and all he wanted was to be sure that he would be returned to him safely.

His father glanced to the side, the feeble kitchen light casting shadows across his face, and Lance held his breath.

"I'm...not sure. Soon, I hope," his dad said.

"Do you promise? You have to promise," Lance whined, his eyes burning.

His dad sighed and pulled him in close, hand gentle on the back of Lance's head, his other arm wrapped tightly around his shoulders.

"I love you," he said quietly, before pulling away to stand. "And I have to go now."

Lance hesitated, the look on his father's face unsettling. He reached out to ruffle his son's hair again, and Lance felt the hand tremble against his head. Something deep in his young brain screamed at the wrongness of it all.

"See you soon," Lance said, peering up hopefully.

His dad paused at the door, smiled that empty smile again and said, "Goodbye, Lance."

Lance watched him go, his father's chocolate frog card heavy in his pocket.

_He didn't promise._

_\---_

Lance woke in the lions' stables, Lapis' purrs vibrating in his bones, reminding him where he was and why he was surrounded by blue fur.

The proud blue lion was staring at him, a rumble in her chest as he came to, tears glazing his cheeks.

"Whoa, girl, that was-that was intense." Lance attempted to smile crookedly back at her. "You owe me for that one. I'm expecting a real juicy memory from _you_ next time."

Lapis rumbled again, the warmth of her laughter blooming in his mind. She pushed forward to lick at his tears and her whiskers tickled his face.

Lance laughed and laughed but the tears wouldn't stop.

\---

Keith watched Lance over breakfast. He seemed completely calm considering that their first quidditch match (against Slytherin) was today. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Lance had come bursting into their room, eyes bloodshot and face a bit puffier than usual, at the moment Keith was waking up.

He knew that Lance liked to go visit Lapis in the mornings, as his shuffling around at dawn often drew Keith out of his slumber, and he wondered what kind of effect she must have on him to render the energetic boy so sedate this morning. He almost envied Lance for looking so calm as he picked apart his toast, while Keith's insides felt about as scrambled as his plate of eggs.

Sammy and Sarah came up to them, grinning, and poked Lance on the shoulder. 

"Hey Lance," they said in unison. "Good morning Keith. Good luck in the game today."

"Um, thanks," said Keith, raising a hand in greeting as the two smiled cheerfully.

"Awwwww, you came here to support me in winning my first game, that's so sweet," Lance burst out, pulling the unsuspecting twins into a crushing hug.

"Ew," Sarah protested, wriggling free of Lance's grip.

"Correction," Sammy said, with a smirk. "We're here to wish you luck."

"Which you desperately need," Sarah added.

"Since we're gonna crush you guys," Sammy finished. 

Keith stared. Were they always so in sync? 

Lance let out a scandalized gasp as the twins scurried away, cackling.

"How dare you betray your own flesh and blood! Where's your familial loyalty, you little traitors?" 

Keith felt laughter bubble within as he watched Lance yell indignantly, his blue eyes flashing with light, mouth twisting in an exaggerated look of outrage, his long, tan arms stretching up and cutting gracefully through the air as he shook his fist at the twins. 

With a start, Keith realized he was staring, and quickly jerked his gaze away, but not quick enough to miss the way Pidge was smirking at him. He glared back, futilely ignoring the flush in his cheeks.

\---

Lance fiddled with the third clasp on his robe as they waited for the teams to be called forward. Keith sat beside him, picking at some stray pieces of wood in the tail of his broomstick. Poking him in the shoulder, Lance tried to get his attention, but Keith merely flicked his gaze up to Lance's and then returned to his broomstick after silently assessing that Lance had nothing of real importance to impart to him.

Behind him, Lance felt a hand on his shoulder and spun around. There was a boy there, a sixth year, Lance thought, with long, straw-colored hair, heavy lids over downturned eyes, and a straight nose that ended at a sharp point.

"Hi, You're Lance, right? Third year? I'm Rolo," Rolo said.

"Uh ye-yeah. That's me. Lance." Lance let out a nervous laugh, chest fluttering rapidly.

Why was he so nervous? Because a cool, older boy was talking to him, obviously.

"Cool. I'm a sixth year Slytherin. Seeker." Rolo spoke with quick, clipped sentences. It was kind of cool.

"I'm looking forward to the game. They tell me you two are quite some fliers." At this, Rolo peeped around Lance's shoulder to nod at Keith, who was sitting there watching them with eyes narrowed in suspicion.

Keith gave a curt nod. "We are," he said.

Rolling his eyes, Lance decided that clearly Keith needed a talking to about being rude when people came up to speak to them, but Keith still watched the older boy warily.

Lance gulped as Rolo's hand slid down his arm and then broke contact. His face felt hot. Why did it feel hot?

Grabbing at Lance's other arm, Keith pulled them both to standing as Allura called out the names of the Gryffindor quidditch team. "Good luck today, Rolo," he said gruffly.

"Good luck to you too."

_\---_

Keith marched out onto the quidditch pitch with Lance in tow as Allura announced the Gryffindor team.

They stood, shoulders touching, as their captain, Tim, shook Rolo's hand. Allura gave the countoff and they kicked off from the ground. Keith glided around the stands, eyes trained for a glimpse of the Snitch. He noticed Rolo doing the same on the other side of the stadium and followed his line of sight, but noticed nothing there. 

Hearing a cheer go up from the Gryffindor stands, he was broken out of his coma of concentration when Allura announced. "And the first ten points of the game are scored by none other than Gryffindor's most recent addition to the team, Lance McClain, with a beautiful goal off of a pass from Stephanie Taylor. Well done, Lance!"

Keith grinned, directing his broomstick lower, a thrill of pride rushing through him upon hearing that Lance had scored. He continued to scan the field in search of the Snitch, keeping Allura's commentary in the back of his mind.

"And Johanna Parker is quick to gain possession of the Quaffle. She shoots and scores! That was quick. Ten points to Slytherin! Lovely shot, Johanna." 

Keith scowled upon hearing about the Slytherin goal, but couldn't help the rush of amusement he felt every time Allura proudly complimented her students during the game.

"And Kelly Wong is now in possession of the Quaffle. She moves up the field towards Gryffindor's hoops. And she passes it off to Johanna Parker, and oh, lovely interception by Lance McClain, and he passes it to Timothy Wicks, who is making his way down the pitch. He throws the Quaffle back to Lance McClain, who, oh my, just dodged two Bludgers. He passes it to Stephanie, and oh, the Quaffle is in. Another ten points to Gryffindor!"

With a smirk, Keith let his gaze drift to where Rolo was flying in circles around the stands. For some reason, Rolo didn't seem to be scanning the field for the Snitch. In fact, Rolo was staring straight at _him._  But upon catching Keith's eye, Rolo turned away.

Puzzled, Keith returned his gaze to the field, immediately catching sight of a flash of gold near Slytherin chaser Connor Brown. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rolo dive, and quickly followed suit, hot on his tail. The Snitch whizzed further away, making a sharp turn that Keith easily matched. Rolo made the turn slightly slower, more clumsily, and suddenly Keith was ahead, closing in on the Snitch until-his fingers grasped it tight and he breathed a sigh of relief, pulling it into his chest. 

"And Keith Kogane has caught the Snitch, cementing Gryffindor's win at one hundred seventy points to ten! Well done, Gryffindor! A game well fought to both teams!"

Keith landed his broomstick, a thrill of triumph running through him as Lance came running towards him, shouting, beaming, his blue eyes alight, his teeth flashing white agaisnt the red darkness of his mouth open wide with laughter. He was sweaty. And his short brown hair stuck slightly to his forehead, but suddenly those long sweaty arms were wrapped around Keith's middle and his heart was in his throat and Lance smelled like lime and coconut and warm blankets in the winter.

He was ambushed by the rest of the team a second later, but all he was aware of was Lance's grin as he pulled away from Keith, shouting something celebratory and vaguely competitive. Keith couldn't hear him over the shouts, so he just smirked and focused on the pull of Lance's smile, the warmth of his arms still slung casually around him, and his breaths, heavy from exertion, cresting over Keith's face in their proximity.

A few moments later, as they packed up their stuff in the tent outside the field, Rolo came back up to them with a smile that Keith found himself wary of.

"Hey. Great game," Rolo said, extending a hand to shake Keith's. "What I heard about you was right. You two can flat out fly."

Keith shook Rolo's hand hesitantly, noticing with annoyance how Lance stuttered through a thanks when Rolo reached out to shake his hand.

"I'd love to play you both again," Rolo said, reaching out his right hand to gently prod Lance's chest. Lance winced, reaching up a hand to his collarbone, and Keith recognized the discomfort in his eyes, the all too familiar glassy-eyed pain that shone there whenever Lance's scar bothered him.

_Why would Rolo make the scars hurt? Unless he's-_

Lance's t-shirt shifted, revealing an inch of one of the long scars across his chest, and Keith watched intently as Rolo's gaze caught on it, eyes glinting with a foreboding malevolence.

Without warning, he swiveled around, back facing them, and raised a hand in farewell. "I'll see you guys around then. Keep flying."

Keith scowled after him, then turned his stare on the excited, nervous-looking Lance, and felt his gaze soften.

"How's your scar?" he asked.

"What? Oh, it sorta twinged just now, but you know, sometimes it acts out, I guess."

"Hm."

"Dude. Isn't Rolo, like, so cool?" Lance gushed giddily.

Keith could say that no, he did not find Rolo very cool, that something about him seemed very  _off_ , but he wasn't sure how to explain his apprehension, so instead he nodded, still half in thought. 

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

\---

"Oh man, I'm so excited to be going to Hogsmeade," Lance chirped as he, Hunk, Keith, and Pidge made their way along the snow-covered path into the nearby village.

"Cami and Lucas used to come home for Christmas with all this candy from Honeydukes and eat it right in front of our faces. But guess what? Now it's my turn to buy all the candy I want and then lord it over everyone else."

Lance balled his fists up in determination and smirked sidelong at Hunk, who smiled gently in return, a sceptical eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. There's supposed to be some pretty cool stuff out there," Pidge agreed. "I can't wait to check out some of the historical landmarks that Professor Galley's always talking about."

"Honestly, I'm pretty excited about the food," Hunk said, patting his stomach. "Honeydukes for all the awesome candy, and all the inns here have cakes and pastries. And butterbeer! My mom told me the first time she tried butterbeer was in the Three Broomsticks."

"Yeah, dude!" Lance exclaimed, attempting a high five with Hunk as they walked. "What about you, Keith? You excited for the joke shop or what?" 

Keith jumped, seemingly lost in thought, and looked over at Lance.

"Oh, uh. I don't know. I don't really know anything about Hogsmeade, I guess."

"Oh yeah. I forgot you grew up with Muggles," Pidge noted, readjusting her glasses as she peered over at Keith.

"Guess you'll just need the full tour then," Lance said, a smirk playing over his lips. 

\---

Lance dragged them all to Honeydukes first, where the shelves were filled wall-to-wall with all kinds of beautiful confections, ranging from creamy chocolate to crunchy crystallised sugars and crispy wafers.

Pidge took a liking to the sugar quills and candies built like toys. She spent much of the time studying their structures and peering at different concoctions through her thick glasses. 

Meanwhile Hunk had settled into a conversation with some of the candymakers about the spells and science of perfecting candy textures, so Lance was left to raid the store with Keith at his side.

He sidled down one aisle, sliding boxes of ice mice, chocolates, jelly slugs, nougat, and liquorice wands off the shelf and shoving them into Keith's already full arms.

"Are you trying to buy one of _everything_ in this damn shop?" Keith grumbled around the mountain of boxes in his arms.

"That would be ideal, yes," Lance responded, lifting some of the boxes from Keith's arms and grinning toothily as they walked into the sugar snowflake aisle.

Keith looked up at the ceiling with narrowed eyes as the snowflakes began to float down. "What-what is this?'

Lance laughed. "Chill, man, they're sugar snowflakes. They melt in your mouth, but not in your hands," Lance explained, reaching out to catch some and showing Keith the unique crystal shapes in the sugary ice.

"Oh. Cool," said Keith, tracking the fall of the sugar flakes. Lance stuck his tongue out to catch the tiny bursts of sweetness and saw Keith do the same, letting out a soft laugh as the sugar met his tongue.

With a start, Lance realized he was staring at Keith, mesmerized by the tiny laughs that escaped his lips, the way his eyelashes spread out across his cheeks and curved up slightly when he squeezed his eyes shut.

Eyes sliding over to Lance, Keith turned to smile at him, faintly, softly, and Lance stared. Without thinking, he reached out to pluck a stray snowflake from Keith's hair and licked it from the tip of his finger. 

Lance flushed, suddenly self-conscious. "What?" he questioned when Keith's wide-eyed gaze did not waver.

"Nothing," Keith said, hushed. He smiled faintly and the silence stretched out between them. 

Lance didn't mind, he thought, absently admiring Keith's dark eyes, the way his stray black hairs curled around his ears, the way he looked standing there amidst the snow, the darkness of his hair and clothes stark against the white flakes of sugar that floated down around him. Because everything about Keith was so undeniably  _beautiful_ , Lance thought. Objectively. Of course.

Affection swelled in his chest and Lance thought that this was one of those warm, quiet moments that you could easily miss if you weren't careful enough. He couldn't help but wish it would last forever, so he stopped and waited and held onto it until it was over. Destined to be a memory.

And then Keith broke the silence, eyes wide, hair slightly staticky, face flushed from the exertion of dragging candy boxes through the store and refusing to remove his jacket.

"Uhm," Keith began, his voice hoarse. "Y-you're uh-I mean, shouldn't we be going to like, other places?"

Lance blinked. "Jeez Keith, slow your roll. We gotta pay first!"

\---

"I've always wanted to visit this place," Pidge said, leaning over the fence to look closer at the Shrieking Shack. Hunk nodded in agreement, picking his way to peer over the fence alongside Pidge.

"You know," Lance said with a sly grin as he leaned into Keith space. "They say the shack is haunted."

Keith crossed his arms and scowled at the shack. "Really," he asked, although it didn't sound much like a question. 

"Oh yeah. They say Zarkon used to go there during his time at Altea and practice dark magic," Lance said with an eerie moan.

Frowning, Keith shoved Lance away, his eyes flicking up to the shack warily.

"You wanna know something else?" Pidge asked, dropping her voice to a whisper. "People have been saying that for the past few years, the shack's been filled with the howls and moans of dead spirits on every night of the full moon."

Lance felt Keith tense up next to him and noticed both Pidge and Hunk's gazes immediately cut to him, watching him with intent.

 _Am I...missing something here?_ thought Lance, eyes flitting between Keith, Pidge, and Hunk.

With a huff, Keith crossed his arms and turned his back to the shack, looking down at the ground.

"What? Feeling scared yet?" Lance taunted from behind him.

"I'm not!" Keith growled, fixing Lance with a glare. Taken aback by the other boy's ferocity, Lance watched as he stalked a few feet away from him and the others.

"What's his problem?" Lance mouthed at Pidge and Hunk, but Hunk gave him a sad little shake of his head, and Pidge was watching Keith in what looked like sympathetic fascination. 

Lance rolled his eyes and walked up to Keith. "Look, Keith buddy, I didn't think you were actually scared, okay man? Let's just go get a nice glass of butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. You'll feel _all_ better."

"No it's not that, I just-" Keith looked pained, scrunching up his face and frustratedly pulling at his hair. "It's nothing. Fine, yeah, that's fine. Great."

"Ooookay."

\---

Keith sipped his butterbeer, relishing in the creamy warmth that flooded his body.

Lance gave him a smug smile over the rim of his glass. "It's good isn't it?" 

Keith shrugged, letting the corners of his mouth twitch up. "I guess."

"Please. You love it," Lance accused, leaning back in his chair until he was precariously balanced on its two back legs.

Hunk nodded sagely. "None can deny the sweet release of butterbeer on a winter's day."

Pidge offered Keith a tired smile from where she was sitting, stopping mid-eyeroll when she spotted something by the door.

"You guys, Professor Shiro and Allura are coming in."

The four kids swiveled in their chairs, trying to discreetly spy on their teachers as they came into the little tavern, stomping their shoes free of the snow. Keith raised an eyebrow when he noticed Matt following close behind.

"It's so weird to see them outside of school," Hunk remarked.

Keith nodded in assent as Professor Allura came up to their table. "'Hello children. I trust you're enjoying yourselves."

The four children murmured in response, still slightly in awe of their professors in this setting.

"Good," said Allura, beaming. She took a seat with Matt and Shiro at a table in an inconspicuous corner of the tavern, slightly isolated from the rest of the tables. The four children watched them out of the corners of their eyes as their teachers bent their heads low over the table to converse in what looked to be hushed, anxious tones.

"I wish we could hear what they're talking about," Pidge said, despondently licking up some foam from the rim of her glass.

"Eh, it's probably just boring school stuff," Lance muttered, but he craned his neck to get a better view of them, his gaze intent.

"It looks to be a bit more than 'boring school stuff,'" Keith pointed out.

"Well, we could probably get close enough to overhear with a disillusionment charm," Pidge speculated.

"Uhhh, no. Guys, I don't think this is a good idea," Hunk piped up nervously. "They'll be mad if they catch us. Also, we can't be sure they're even talking about anything important."

 "I...guess," Lance said, dragging his gaze away from the older trio and patting Hunk's shoulder. "You're probably right. It's just weird is all."

"I still want to know," Pidge whined.

"Well, you can't know everything, little Pidgey," said Lance, ruffling PIdge's hair.

"Hm," said Keith.

\---

The four children ambled back to Altea from Hogsmeade in the fading light, kicking at the snow and chatting aimlessly in an attempt to slow their return to the school.

Keith found himself walking beside Lance, close enough that their elbows and the backs of their hands brushed occasionally on their trek back to Altea. Lance's shoulders were hunched up against the cold, the tip of his nose red from the frigid air. Hunk and Pidge had fallen into step behind them, and Keith could barely hear murmurs of their conversation from where he and Lance were walking.

"Sooo..." Lance began, grinning sidelong at Keith. "I'm going home for Christmas this year."

"Ah." Keith forced a little smile, ignoring the disappointment that settled in his stomach.

"And," Lance continued. "I was  _thinking_ that you could come. If you want."

Keith stared, suddenly aware of Lance's eyes turned directly on him. His jacket itched at his throat. "Wait, what?'

"Um, you know, you could come spend Christmas with me. Us. At my house."

Lance's eyes were bright, but Keith couldn't help but notice the hope and nervousness that swam behind Lance's carefully casual smile. He looked at Keith with a kind of hesitancy, an insecurity, as if there were any possible way that Keith could say no to him.

"I-I mean, I'd like that," Keith managed to sputter, and was met with Lance's relieved grin. "But I wouldn't want to be a bother, or anything. Are you sure your family will be okay with it?"

"Dude are you serious? My family loves you, man. They'd rather have you there than me," Lance said with a laugh, which made Keith frown.

"I don't think thats'-"

"Besides, you've already lived there for like, a month," Lance continued as though Keith hadn't spoken. "We can handle one more."

He threw an arm around Keith's shoulder, and Keith smiled hesitantly, allowing himself to soften into the easy touch.

\---

Lance legs bounced up and down in his seat, and he kept pushing up to peer out of the train window, excited to catch a glimpse of the platform.

"Lance dude, you need to relax. We won't be there for another fifteen minutes," Pidge pointed out.

"I know, man, I'm just so excited! I haven't been home for Christmas since school started. That's two years, Pidge. Two years without my mom's rice pudding, two years without hot cocoa and gingerbread at midnight, two years without the masterpiece that is the McClain family tree!"

"Ok, jeez, I get it."

"It's more than that," Sarah said seriously from where she and Sammy were seated beside Hunk. "Christmas is the only time of year when mama gets a whole week off from work. It's our family time. Which Lance totally ruined by not showing up," she said with a scathing look at Lance. Sammy smirked in support of his twin's attacks on their older brother.

Indignant, Lance opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when he noticed Keith fidgeting beside him. Lance turned to look concernedly at Keith, who sat forward in his seat, apprehensive, his top teeth worrying his bottom lip and his arms crossed tightly together. 

"Be chill, man. This is gonna be so much fun!" Lance grinned. "Seriously, the worst thing about you staying is that there might not be enough shampoo in the house to un-grease your gross mullet."

Keith reached up to pull at his hair self-consciously. "What's wrong with my hair?" he grumbled, and everyone in the train compartment burst into peals of laughter.

"What?" he asked then, scowling. "What's so funny?"

"Keith, dude, don't worry about it," Lance began, but at that moment, the train came to a grinding halt, and Lance leapt up from his seat. He raced to the nearest train exit, and dashed along the platform with his luggage in tow.

He paused on the platform, scanning the crowd of families for a familiar face, then let loose an undignified yelp when two arms suddenly encircled his waist from behind. 

"Lance, you came back for Christmas. _Lo sabía_!" A tiny voice yelled into Lance's shirt, and he turned around to wrap his arms around Cat. 

" _Por supuesto, tontita._ I promised didn't I?"

She nodded stiffly into his stomach, and Lance smiled, releasing one of his arms from Cat's grip to wave at the rest of his family running towards him on the platform.

\---

"Would you pass the potatoes, sweetie?" Keith jumped when Miss Sanchez addressed him politely from across the table, her relaxed smile soft on her face. 

"Oh, um, yes, yeah," Keith answered, reaching for the bowl of potatoes and unceremoniously plopping them into her arms.

Keith sat between Lance and Camila at the crowded dinner table, struggling to focus on his food amidst the clatter of plates and the chaos of different conversations going on around him.

"So, Keith, how's school been for you?" Keith gulped, realising that Ms. Sanchez was going to keep talking to him, and steeled himself forward.

"It's uh, it's good. You know, apart from having to room with Lance," Keith said with a shrug.

Sammy and Sarah snickered, and Maria chuckled lightly, her smile wrinkles deepening. 

"Oh believe me, we know," Sarah said, with a pointed look at Lance.

"What?" Lance squawked. "I'm a great roomie!"

"You take _ages_ in the bathroom," Sammy complained.

"Alright, alright, leave him alone," Lucas scolded the twins, rolling his eyes.

"You guys are big meanies," said Cat, frowning at the twins with her big blue eyes.

"Aw, see, Cat still loves me," Lance said triumphantly, pinching the little girl's cheek affectionately.

"Stop it!" she cried indignantly. "Never mind. I don't love you anymore."

Keith hid a smile behind his hand as Lance dramatically swooned in his chair and Cat scrunched up her little face. "Wait, wait, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry Lance," she said, pulling at the hem of his shirt.

"Well, I'm glad you could finally come around for Christmas, Keith. Lance is always telling us all sorts of wonderful things about you in his letters. I can tell you two are really great friends," Maria said, eyes warm.

Keith felt his face heat up at the thought, imagining Lance by the common room hearth, scratching Keith's name onto paper instead of doing his homework. Beside him, Lance popped up from where he was lolling smugly in his chair. 

"Mamaaaa, don't _tell_ him that. Those letters were supposed to be private!"

" _Ay pero mira, se está sonrojando_." Sarah said something in Spanish and Keith raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Awww," Sammy crooned.

" _No lo estoy_!" Lance said in retaliation, and Keith frowned, lost.

As Maria reprimanded Lance and the twins for speaking Spanish in the presence of their guest, Keith turned to Camila. Unsurprisingly, he'd felt her motherly presence missing from Gryffindor's common room since she had graduated, and was excited to see her again.

"So, um, what are you doing now?' he asked.

"Well, I'm training to be a doctor at St. Mungo's," Camila began. "It's pretty far away, so I can't come back and visit as often as Lucas, but St. Mungo's is like, the most renowned wizarding hospital in America, so you know, it's worth it for the action."

Keith smiled. "That's so cool," he said, and he meant it. Camila was giving and caring, and he had no doubt she would treat her patients with the same focus and affection that she loved to give her family members.

"Yeah, Cami's rising up in ranks pretty fast, too, I hear," Lucas said, giving his younger sister a nudge.

"Well, I don't wanna get too cocky or anything, but yeah, I totally saved a dude last week and the doctors were like, 'wow Cami, damn.'"

Keith snorted into his potatoes. Ms. Sanchez's twinkling laugh brought his gaze back up from his plate and he saw Lance's mother surveying her children with love bright in her eyes. 

"I'm just so happy to have all my little kiddies here with me again, Keith included," Maria said with a wink.

"I love Altea, but I've been feeling like you aren't quite safe there anymore. Then again where is anyone safe these days?" she said a little sadly. "I'm just glad we can get some peaceful time together away from all the dangers outside."

Keith smiled, but he felt his insides curling.  _If only you knew,_ he thought guiltily.  _That I'm the danger you fear._

_\---_

"Oh, Keith I hope you don't mind, but I was thinking of putting you and Lance down in the living room on the air mattress. Since all my kids moved out, I've been changing up the rooms a bit, so Lucas is going to take Lance's room," Ms. Sanchez explained apologetically.

Keith only nodded, not quite trusting himself to speak, because for some reason the idea of sharing a bed with Lance cut his breaths short, and he feared that his burning blush would make itself audible if he opened his mouth.

"Good. You are so sweet," Maria said, patting Keith on the head affectionately. 

"Ew. I think she actually likes you," Lance noted as he came walking out of the bathroom to fall sprawled out on the mattress. Keith swallowed as the hem of Lance's overlarge t-shirt rode up to expose his tan stomach and the jut of his hips above his pajama pants. He forced himself to look away and plopped down on the edge of the mattress, far away from Lance and his too-exposed skin.

"You know, it's actually quite a common occurrence for people to like me, Lance. You're the abnormality."

Lance stretched, wiggling his fingers and toes before jumping up and burrowing down into the comforter. 

"Whatever, I'm too tired to banter. Just come sleep with meee," Lance mumbled from where he was wrapped up in blankets. Ignoring the pounding of his heart, Keith slipped under the covers beside Lance, his breathing unsteady as he felt the heat radiating from Lance's body beside him.

Lance turned to him, blue eyes bright in the dark, a smile playing across his lips. Keith could smell the peppermint toothpaste on his breath and groaned, burying his face in the pillow.

"Hey Keith, let's play a game."

"No."

"Come onnnn. Let's play 'Would you rather.' It'll be fun."

"I hate that game."

"Okay, I'll go first. Would you rather play 'would you rather' with me, or sleep on the floor?"

"...Sleep on the floor." 

Keith laughed as Lance gave him a playful shove towards the edge of the mattress, but retaliated by reaching out and grabbing Lance around the waist so he would fall off the bed with him. They were suddenly face to face, pressed up close to each other in the silence of the house. Lance froze, staring, lips parted. He blinked slowly, blue vanishing behind his eyelashes and then reappearing in the dark.

Keith cleared his throat and pulled away. "Uh, would you rather, um, die from being burnt to a crisp or slowly freeze?"

"Keith, that's so lame."

"Just answer, it's my turn."

"Um. I'd probably rather freeze. I read somewhere that you go numb and then fall asleep. Sounds kinda peaceful."

"I'd rather burn," Keith said, pulling the blankets tighter around himself.

"Why?" Lance asked.

"Because it goes faster."

"Oh Keith, impatient even in death."

"Shut up."

The two boys grinned at each other in the faint light from the stairwell. 

"I'm glad you decided to come," Lance said, still smiling faintly.

"Me too," Keith said. Lance beamed.

"Good night Keith."

"Night Lance."

\---

Lance awoke to the clattering sounds of breakfast in the kitchen, and leaped up from the mattress, careful not to wake Keith. Lucas was at the stove, humming an old song and flipping pancakes. Cat stood clutching his pant leg, watching him work with wide, attentive eyes.

"Morning, Lance," Lucas said with a grin at his younger brother. "I thought I'd let mama sleep in a bit since it's only her second day off from work."

"Of course. She has to get accustomed to the vacation sleep schedule," Lance agreed.

Lucas nodded and lifted Cat up to plop her down in Lance's lap. Lance grinned at her and began to bounce her up and down on his leg.

"Yeesh, Cat, you're getting way too big for this," he muttered.

Cat stuck her tongue out at him and jumped off his lap to go and hang onto Lucas' leg once again.

Lucas sighed in defeat. "Well, I tried. Anyway, I covered all the basics today. We got, blueberry, chocolate chip, and plain. What do you want?"

"Um. All of them?" Lance said hopefully, trying his best to soldier his face into a picture of innocence.

Lucas rolled his eyes, and handed Lance a plate of pancakes. "Why not? If you're not going to eat all the pancakes on Christmas, when are you ever going to gain weight?" Lucas asked, poking his spatula at Lance's skinny arms.

"Rude," Lance protested.

The rest of the family began to trickle into the kitchen, and Lance was laughing at something Cami had said when Keith ambled in, rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning Keith," Lucas called from the stove. There, he stood, holding Cat up by her armpits and allowing her to carefully drip a spoonful of pancake batter onto the griddle.

Lance laughed at the sight, pulling a chair next to him for Keith to sit in.

"What kind of pancakes would you like, Keith?" Lucas asked. "I have blueberry, chocolate chip, and plain."

"Um. Plain is fine, thanks," Keith said with a nervous smile. 

Lucas grinned back. "An appreciation for the classics, I see."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Nah, he's just boring." 

He deserved the sharp elbow that Keith promptly jabbed into his side.

A moment later, Cat walked up to Lance, proudly carrying a plate with the pancake she had poured into the pan, and held it up to him.

"Aww, for me? You spoil me, kitty Cat."

"Noooo, no." Cat shook her head determinedly, then blushed a little. "It's-this one is for _Keith_." She dug her toe in circles on the floor, and pushed it into Lance's hands.

"Can you give it to him? But say it's from me," Cat added quickly. Lance smiled, warmth filling him at the shy way Cat pressed her hands together when Lance took the plate from her. He turned to present it to Keith, who stared in surprise.

"This beautiful pancake was made just for you by the fair Catalina over here," Lance announced, placing the plate on the table. 

"Oh," Keith said, peering around to look at Cat. "Thank you."

Lance had never known Keith could smile so softly. It made his breaths shallow ever so slightly, made him want to be on the receiving end of such a smile.

Cat pulled at his shirt and Lance turned back to her. "Ask him if he likes it," she said.

"Do you like it, Keith?"

Keith beamed back at Lance, sunlight streaming in from the window and casting his face in bright light. 

"It's delicious," he answered, maple syrup dripping down his chin, a piece of pancake hanging off of his fork.

 _He's an idiot_ , thought Lance.  _So dum_ _b. The absolute worst._

_\---_

Keith found the days moving fast towards Christmas in the Sanchez household. He spent most of his time doing chores around the house, having snowball fights with Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and the rest of the McClain family, eating, and playing hours of wizarding board games on days when it was either too cold or dark to go outside. 

As the days grew closer to the full moon, his health began to decline, and Lance's family fussed over him for a couple days before Pidge had shown up to the house with a special kind of tea she promised would make him feel better. As terrible as it had tasted, the tea was all he had to keep him functioning, and he realised with dread that this month's full moon would be taking place on Christmas Eve. 

Which is why he found himself a bit surprised and saddened to be huddled around the hearth in Lance's living room on the night before Christmas, sipping hot cocoa and munching on gingerbread with only a few hours left until midnight. The rest of the family was there, lounging across each other's laps and cuddling close to each other for warmth. The entire house smelled of smoky pine and ginger, and Keith was pressed into Lance's side on the far corner of the couch, feeling contented and warm. But he knew he had to leave soon, soon as in before midnight, before he turned, before he hurt someone. 

He could leave now, say he had to go to the bathroom, but they would notice after a while if he was missing. No one looked as if they were about to leave, so Keith pointedly let out a loud yawn, stretching luxuriously.

Maria looked over at him, eyebrows raising. 

"Hmm," she said. "I think it might be just about time for us to go to bed. So we can wake up bright and early tomorrow to open presents, right?"

Little Cat nodded, rubbing her eyes, and Lucas scooped her up and began carrying her up the stairs. 

Maria and Camila rounded up the twins and Maria bade Lance and Keith good night over her shoulder before disappearing up the staircase.

"Um, so. I have to just. Go to the bathroom," Keith said haltingly, placing his empty mug on the coffee table and standing.

"Yup. Cool."

Keith made his way towards the bathroom, but instead turned towards the front door and stepped out, teeth chattering in the frigid air. He ran towards the woods, feeling fur prickling underneath his skin, and kept running as far as he could go, far from Lance. Far from Lance's family. From everyone. 

He stopped at a tree he had marked earlier, his teeth aching as they began to grow larger, when he heard a twig crack behind him and jumped ten feet in the air before whipping around.

"Keith?'

It was Lance. It was fucking Lance.

"What are you doing here?" Keith could already hear the growl in his voice, rough and animal-like. He winced.

"You were-gone a while, so I-I followed you here," Lance said hesitantly. "Come on, Keith. I know something's up. Why won't you just tell me?"

"Lance, you have to leave right now," Keith yelled harshly, before doubling over in pain. Lance was at his side in a second, a hand finding his jaw to lift Keith's face and look him in the eyes. 

"Keith, are you ok-"

Keith slashed at Lance's arm, panic rising in his stomach as he was unable to resist the urge to hurt his best friend. "Leave me alone!" he shouted, before he was snarling and his whole body was on fire. Lance jumped back, eyes wide and frightened, like Keith had always known they would be if he found out.

"Lance I-I'm a werewolf," Keith finally managed to choked out, and his vision ran red.

\---

Lance jumped back in horror as Keith coughed out the words, "I'm a werewolf."

He stared as the boy's skin burst into harsh gray needles of fur, and his pale, delicate jaw elongated into snapping rows of deadly teeth. Lance should've moved then, could've moved then, but he was stuck to the spot on the snow-covered ground, eyes wide, as he remembered his dad, imagined those sharp teeth ripping into his body like knives, leaving behind nothing but a finger, the only piece left of his beloved father to bury in the ground. And there it was, the monster that had haunted his nightmares for so long, staring him in the face. 

The wolf jumped onto Lance, claws digging into his shoulders, and he felt blood well up there and trickle down his arms, but he was still too numb with fear to register the pain. He couldn't forgive it, but this was different. This was Keith. The werewolf growled in his face, and Lance peered up at it for a sign of his best friend. There, he thought he registered a hint of Keith's dark violet eyes, almost black in the shifting colors of night, with something like fear glimmering from their depths.

"Keith," Lance croaked, and the wolf flinched back. Lance pushed himself off the ground.

"Keith," he said again, and the werewolf shrank ever so slightly, but then snarled again.

Lance slowly reached for his wand. "Keith."

The wolf stared, glaring.

"Keith."

Lance lifted his wand, subtly pointing it towards his aggressor.

He raised his wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"

Keith flew backwards, straight into the tree behind him. He was faintly disoriented, growling softly, eyes drooping, and Lance stunned him again.

He fell unconscious, and Lance spoke the incantation to send ropes twisting themselves in tight knots around Keith, so he wouldn't be able to move if he awoke. Then, stumbling backwards, pressing a hand to his shoulder to stop the bleeding, Lance leaned back against another tree, letting his head drop with exhaustion.

He stared at Keith, the wolf, unconscious across from him, and felt his face crack into a smile. Pain clouded his vision, but he couldn't let his eyes droop, he couldn't look away from the boy-wolf who lay on the ground, snuffling against the tree bark. No way was Lance ever leaving him alone again.

"Keith, you jerk. I _knew_ you were lying."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmao does this remind anyone else of the Thriller music video bcuz goals tbh
> 
> This chapter was longer than I would've liked, but i really wanted to get the werewolf thing sorted, cuz I feel like it has dragged out a bit  
> I love it when people pass the potatoes. Why is it always potatoes that people pass in stories? Why isn't it like, pass the beans or something?
> 
> Also lol, Lance has a tiny crush on Rolo at first, but it is in no way a big part of the story, more like the first sign that he's not straight than anything else really
> 
> Translationsss:  
> Lo sabía: I knew it  
> Por supuesto, tontita: Of course I did, dummy/silly (i love their dynamic okay)  
> Ay pero mira, se está sonrojando: Look at that, he's blushing! (sammy and sarah are so savage)  
> No lo estoy: I am not! (Lance, honey. You are. You are gay.)
> 
> For those of you who are confused, here's an age chart of Lance's family  
> Maria Sanchez a.k.a. "Mama Sanchez"- 45  
> Christopher McClain a.k.a. "Lance's Blue Eyes Gene"- rip (would be 46 - Lance was 7 when he died)  
> Lucas McClain a.k.a. "Dreamy Big Brother Who Has His Shit Together"- 21  
> Camila McClain a.k.a. "Hot Mom Friend"- 18  
> Lance McClain a.k.a. "My Son"- 13  
> Sarah McClain a.k.a. "The Sassy Twin"- 12  
> Sammy McClain a.k.a. "The Other Sassy Twin"- 12  
> Catalina McClain a.k.a. "The Baby Cinnamon Roll"- 7
> 
> Yep


	11. Extra Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen guys I haven't abandoned this fic. I'm so so sorry to keep you waiting my bad yo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so like I know I havent updated in a super long time. I just wanted to let you guys know that the hiatus is ending soon, and offer you a fluffy little extra klance thing since you've all been waiting so patiently.
> 
> Also if ur mad this isnt a real update i feel ok but at least read my little announcement thingie on the bottom, its coming soon i promise <33333

Third Year

A week before Christmas break

Gryffindor Common Room

\---

Lance let out a groan of frustration, threading his hands through his hair and letting himself fall backwards, slouching into the sofa cushions beside Keith. Hearing a snort to his right, Lance cracked open an eye and pouted half-heartedly in the other boy's direction. 

"C'mooon Keith, give me a hint."

"I can't 'give you a hint,' Lance. You have all the knowledge to perform the spell. Now you just have to, you know, do it."

Lance turned back to his jar of little black beetles, watching them scuttle around the glass bottom, and rolled his eyes.

"Wow, your teaching skills sure are amazing," he bit out. "I guess I'll just 'do it,' then, since it's sooo easy for you." 

Keith winced, slightly taken aback at the sharpness of his words, and Lance felt guilt rise in his throat. "I mean, whatever. I'll try again," he offered, trying to let his apology ring through his words.

"Y-you're doing a good job," Keith stammered to the floor. "It's just, you should put more focus into the spell. You keep getting distracted by little things."

"Okay?" Lance prompted, pushing Keith for more of an explanation.

"Think about the end goal, and uh, you have to focus on the transformation from beetle to button. Like what are their similarities, what are the differences that you want to get rid of?"

"Alright, okay." Lance let out a breath through his nose. "Easy."

He tried the spell again, this time focusing on Keith's words. With a pop, one of his beetles vanished, and in its place lay a shiny black button.

"I did it! Keith, I take it back, you are a good teacher," Lance declared, beaming.

Keith let a shy smile break across his face. "Well, I mean, you uh, you learned pretty fast."

\---

The two practiced into the night as other students finished their homework assignments and began shuffling up up to their bedrooms. When the common room had cleared and the fire had burnt down to its embers, Lance kicked back proudly with his jar now full of buttons, a sigh of relief on his lips. 

"Thanks for helping me master this before the test tomorrow, dude."

"No problem," Keith said, leaning back into the couch beside Lance. "You got it pretty fast anyway."

"Yeah, I did. Guess you're not the only one who's gifted," Lance said, angling a crooked smirk at Keith out of the corner of his eye.

Keith frowned. "Yeah, whatever." 

"Dude, I'm so excited for Christmas with you and my family," Lance mused up at the ceiling, to where he had lolled his head back to lean against the couch. 

"Yeah, me too." Keith grinned, but his smile faded a little too quickly.

Confused about Keith's somber shift in mood, Lance let his voice take on a teasing quality, trying to coax a smile out of him again, or at least rile him up into familiar territory. "Aw, Keeeith. You wuv them!"

"What? N-no, I just-I just mean I'm glad I don't have to go home."

Lance turned to Keith, eyebrows coming together in confusion. "You don't want to go home? Like, don't you ever get a little homesick?"

"No."

"...oh."

"I mean, I guess. Like sometimes I wish I could talk to my cousin. Sometimes I almost miss Aunt Lauren's uptight lectures."

"Uh, yeah." It didn't sound like Keith really missed his aunt's lectures. Lance lifted his hand and let it hover near Keith's face for a second before dropping it to curl his fingers around Keith's shoulder. Noticing the way Keith's breath hitched and his arm tensed up under his touch, Lance quickly drew his hand away.

"Like, I don't know. I love it here and stuff," Lance began, "But sometimes, I wish I could be reading bedtime stories to Cat, or making dinner with my mom."

Keith let out a noncommital grunt.

'What?" Lance asked.

"Nothing, I mean, I get it. Your family's great. Perfect. I just can't relate."

"You don't have to relate. It's part of my life that I'm telling you."

"Well, great. You know what my life is like? I don't have a mom or a sister. My only living family _hates_ me, and I never even knew my father. I had to find out his name from _Professor Allura_  last year. I'm just not...I'm not normal."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like you're always talking about how lucky I am to be 'gifted' or whatever, and you get mad at me for getting some stuff faster than you, but you don't understand how lucky you are to have a family, and people who really love you. Not just people who _have_ to love you."

Lance scowled, anger rising in his chest at the sting of Keith's words and the bitterness behind them. He took a shaky breath, about to retort, but- sitting there watching Keith as he curled into the couch, arms crossed, eyes stormy, Lance noticed a vulnerability in his strong, untouchable friend. He was suddenly reminded of how young they both were, of how alone Keith had always been.

Lance started out cautiously. "Well, you know, Keith...I don't  _have_ to hang out with you."

"Yeah, you do. We're roommates."

"Well, I don't hang out with Craig and Thomas, do I?"

"Whatever. You don't understand."

"Yeah, I don't. I _don't_ understand. I have a family that I can't wait to spend time with. You have one that you want to avoid. So we're different. It doesn't mean we can't be friends. It doesn't mean we can't care about each other."

Keith turned to look Lance in the eyes, letting his gaze flick to the fire every few seconds. "I just, sometimes, I feel _really_  different. I _am_ really different."

"Cool. Me too. Everyone is. Maybe if you weren't so different, you'd be boring, and we wouldn't be friends in the first pl-" Lance faded out, trying to force his voice to remain level as Keith began moving closer, their faces coming just inches apart.

"U-um, Keith? You're uh," Lance struggled to continue, his breath shallowing in his chest.

"Can you shut up?" Keith gritted out, his face a blurrying pink blob that was closing in fast.

Lance yelped as Keith hesitantly pressed his nose to the curve of Lance's neck, his long, wet eyelashes fluttering against his pulse. Quickly, as if shocked back to life, Lance brought his hands up to wrap around his shoulders, feeling Keith's fingers curl tightly in his shirt. 

"Sorry," Keith mumbled.

"What for?"

"I-I don't know."

"Exactly."

\---

Announcement thing:

Hey guys. I'm really really sorry I havent been updating recently. Some stuff happened that I was dealing with and I wasn't really feeling the fic, but I'm good now, and I definitely really want to get back into the groove of updating regularly >_<

Im sORrY this isnt a real update trust me im mad too, please forgiiiiive meeee

I'm working on the next chapter right now and it's coming out very soon, so don't leave me please. Seriously though, big thank you to all of you guys, you commenters and kudo givers, and even people who've had the patience to read this story all the way to this point. You guys are the best, and you're the reason I still want to write ^3^ 

Alright so that's it. Update soon. Hiatus over. Love y'all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith stop being so emo omg. This is a little extra scene I imagined between Keith and Lance before Keith goes to Lance's house for Christmas. I was aiming for fluffy, but it got angsty real fast. Welp.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith "comes out" lol  
> Lance learns about dementors  
> The gang snoops around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a long info-packed chapter so brace yourselves

Keith awoke with a start in the middle of the woods, his clothes a ragged mess around him, an uncomfortable itch on his back, and a headache pounding behind his eyeballs. He twisted his shoulders to stretch his arms up and found he was met with a painful resistance, his skin rubbing red and raw against thick coils of rope. Suddenly, the fogginess clouding Keith’s vision cleared, and he snapped his head up. Sitting opposite him was Lance, leaned back against a tree, chin dropped to his chest, with a silver line of drool clinging to the edge of a split lip.

Lance stirred, blinking blearily until his gaze fell on Keith. He stood and cleared his throat.

“Relashio,” Lance muttered, letting the ropes fall. Sending a pleading look up at his friend, Keith felt his heart wilt in his chest when Lance refused to make eye contact with him.

“I’m sorry,” Keith croaked, his mouth rough and rust-flavored.

Lance said nothing. His stony, far-off gaze gripped Keith like ice, and he felt a dull ache in his throat, especially when he caught sight of the crumbling reddish brown blood caked over Lance’s shoulder.

 _Please just look at me,_ Keith thought. If they could make eye contact for one second, he’d see how sorry Keith truly was.

“I knew you’d be upset that I’m a werewolf. I put you in danger. All of you in danger. I’m a-a terrible friend.” Keith dropped his gaze to the ground, wondering if Lance could even call him a friend after this.

“Keith.” Lance’s voice was closer now, and Keith peeked up through his matted bangs to meet his piercing blue stare. “I’m not mad at you for being a werewolf. What the hell?”

“You...you’re not?”

“No, you idiot. I’m mad that you didn’t tell me sooner! I could’ve helped! All this time, you were in pain, and you just needed a little bit of wolfsbane or something? A little bit of, I don’t know, human support and care? Have you been coming out here in the woods to scratch yourself to death every night? Is that why you disappear at the end of every month? Why you’re always tired and sick and come back with scrapes and bruises saying it’s from ‘quidditch practice?’ Dude, what the hell?”

“I didn’t, I-”

“You what?” Lance crossed his arms and scowled into the distance, avoiding Keith’s gaze. “I-I thought you trusted me.”

“I do. I trust you with everything. I trust you with my life. I just don’t trust myself with yours.”

“Well I don’t know if I can do that, either, since you didn’t bother to tell me this minor detail in your life.”

Keith gulped. “I was afraid that you would...not want to be friends with me anymore.”

“Don’t you know me better than that?” Lance asked, hurt swimming in his eyes. Keith blinked hard, and turned away from the intensity of his gaze.

“I mean, my family always held me at arm's length for being different. And dangerous. I guess I was just used to it,” Keith confessed, feeling tears start to prick at his eyes. In a sudden rush, all the breath was knocked from his body as two skinny arms closed tightly around him.

Keith lifted his arms to return the hug, letting Lance’s warmth envelop him.

“I would never do that to you, Keith. You’re like my best friend. You’re like...you’re _Keith_. If anything, I like you better now. Because it means not everything about you is so perfect.”

“You wish,” Keith muttered, grinning into Lance’s shoulder.

Lance snorted.

\---

Lance and Keith traipsed back to the house in the faint light of early dawn, leaning on each other for support, and wincing as their newly-earned injuries were discovered and awoken. Feeling Keith shiver under his arm, Lance pulled him a little closer into his side, gritting his teeth as he reached the gate.

“You’re so heavy,” Keith groaned.

“Wha- _I’m_ heavy? You’re heavy. You’re like dead weight.”

“I _wish_ I was dead weight. Then I wouldn’t have to be conscious to endure the pain of supporting you,” Keith complained.

“Rude. It’s muscle, actually,” Lance explained, wincing a little as they hopped over a low fence and landed hard on their feet.

“Uh huh. Sure.” Keith gave him a tired smile, and Lance grinned in return.

When they reached the door, Lance opened it with expert care, willing it to stay silent. Turning back to Keith, he whispered, “It’s early enough that we can sneak upstairs, get cleaned up in my room, and come down and pretend nothing weird happened.”

Keith hesitated. “Do you want me to tell them? Your family?”

Lance shrugged. “Only if you want to. But they won’t care. I promise. And if they do, then screw ‘em.”

“They might be worried about you. Being in danger because of me, I mean.”

“Keith, relax. There’s no way they can make us stop hanging out.”

“That’s not what I-”

“ _What_ are you boys doing?”

Lance jumped, turning in surprise and coming face to face with a very annoyed Cami, suspicion dancing over her features.

“It’s 4:00 in the morni-” Cami stopped mid-rant, her face twisting from one of suspicion to horror and concern almost comically fast.

“What the hell happened to you two? You’re covered in blood!”

“We went for a walk and...tripped over some rocks.” Lance said, grimacing inwardly.

Cami grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him away, whispering to him fiercely. “Seriously Lance, what is going on? I’m going to tell mom about this if you don’t tell me the truth.” She paused, raising her eyebrows dangerously. “ _No me mientas_.”

“No, please don’t tell mom!” Lance hissed pleadingly. “I can’t tell you what’s going on, okay, but just trust me. _Esto vale mucho para Keith_. I have to protect him.”

“Oh so it’s Keith’s secret then? _You’re_ protecting him? I have to protect _you._ ”

“ _Por favor, Cami_. Please don’t say anything. I know what I’m doing.”

Cami sighed, shaking her head and lifting her hands in a hopeless gesture, one Lance had seen his mother employ many times herself. “Alright, fine. I trust you both. Just let me get you cleaned up before the others come down.”

\---

“So, how’s school going for you four?” Ms. Sanchez asked over Christmas dinner that evening. Keith sat beside Lance, nervous to speak up after their adventure into the woods last night.

“We’re enjoying it a lot more than last year,” Sarah remarked.

“Last year I wasn’t enjoying it at all,” Sammy said.

“He was in a coma,” Sarah helpfully supplied.

“Yes, we, uh, we all remember that,” Lucas said, raising an eyebrow at the twins across the table.

“Well, it’s all thanks to Keith that you two are both here and healthy today,” Ms. Sanchez said, offering Keith a proud smile. Keith looked down at his plate, unable to smile back. Guilt swam in his stomach at the idea that Ms. Sanchez thought of him as Lance’s savior when he was really the exact opposite.

“Wha- I helped!” Lance yelled indignantly, interrupting Keith’s thoughts.

“Oh my son, I do love you, but you’re a little useless sometimes, you know,” Ms. Sanchez said with a well-meaning laugh.

“I’m not,” Lance mumbled, pouting into his potatoes. “I helped.”

Cat looked up from where she was making squares out of her string beans and put a little hand on Lance’s shoulder. “Lance is the best helper,” she said. “He helped me reach my jacket this morning so I could go outside, _and_ he carried me when I got tired.”

“Thanks Kitty Cat,” Lance said with a half smile, looking up from his plate.

“Speaking of Keith _and Lance_ saving Sammy last year,” Cami said, breaking into the conversation, “You two haven’t been getting into any _more_ trouble lately have you?” She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at the guilty parties opposite her.

“What? Why would we be doing that? What are you talking about?” Lance babbled. “We’re uh, just hanging out, chilling. Get it, ‘cause it’s Christmas, so we _chill._ Because it’s cold.”

Sammy and Sarah groaned. “Lance!”

Lucas gave Lance a skeptical smile. “Yeah we got it, Lance, but that didn’t make it funny.”

“I didn’t get it,” Cat said, confusion in her big blue eyes.

“It’s ok sweetie, you’re not missing out,” Sarah said, giving her younger sister a pat on the head.

Lance flopped to the table in mock outrage. “You guysss. I was just explaining that we’re totally not getting into trouble ‘cause we’re super responsible all the time oka-”

“Stop,” Keith said, grabbing Lance’s wrist. “You don’t have to.”

Lance paused, flicking his eyes to Keith’s warily. “Um, what do you mean, Keith?” Lance let out a nervous, mechanical laugh, and the rest of the table turned to him with quizzical looks on their faces.

“I-I want to tell,” Keith said.

“You sure?” Lance asked, using those bright blue eyes to search Keith’s face for hesitation.

Keith nodded, turning back to the table, his eyes gluing themselves to his plate. “The truth is, we have been getting up to some trouble I guess. Well, I have,” Keith began, swallowing hard. “Because I’m a werewolf,” he said, letting the words spill out in a rush.

The table stilled. Lance cleared his throat, Lucas smoothed his napkin out across his lap, and Camila and the twins just ogled. Ms. Sanchez took a deep breath, pursing her lips.

“What’s a werewolf?” Cat asked, breaking the silence.

Ms. Sanchez slowly moved into action, reaching across the table to place a supportive hand on Keith’s wrist. “Keith, thank you for telling us, but I hope you know this doesn’t change how we-”

“Wait, you’re a werewolf?” Camila exclaimed. “Is that why you two came back to the house this morning dripping blood? You hurt my brother?”

“I-” Keith started, panicking as ice lay claim to his insides.

“What happened this morning?” Ms. Sanchez asked, face tight, nostrils flared. A quiet ferocity suddenly overtook her previously kind demeanor.

“They came back at 4 with _serious_ injuries, begging me not to say anything! I can _not_ believe you guys!”

“Cami, wait!” Lance groaned. “This wasn’t Keith’s fault. I followed him into the woods because I was...curious, and Keith warned me to leave, but I didn’t. I was being dumb.”

Camila swallowed slowly and leaned back into her chair. “Hm.”

Lucas, calmly assuming the role of the responsible older brother, smoothed out his napkin again, scooting his chair a little closer to the table. “Look, I think we all need to calm down right now. We can agree that Keith has had a lot to deal with, and we shouldn’t be blaming him for something out of his control,” he said with a pointed look at Cami. Turning to Keith with an understanding smile, he continued. “It’s okay dude. We’re just a little surprised, you know?”

Keith nodded, shoulders still tense.

Camila sighed. “I know your life has been hard, Keith. I wasn’t-I didn’t mean to jump on you,” she began, leaning forward with an apologetic smile. “I was just afraid for my little brother, but...you’re kind of like my brother too, and I want you to be safe.”

She gave him a watery smile and tensed her jaw, eyes distant. “It was scary when I saw you two hurt this morning, and I’ve just been a little on edge all day.”

Keith nodded again, words evacuating his mind. All he could pinpoint was a bubbly warmth that left him slightly out of breath.

“I’m really glad you told us,” Ms. Sanchez said, placing a gentle hand on Keith’s shoulder. “We’re all here to help and support you.”

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Sarah said. “We’re writing a paper on werewolves in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I’d like to ask you some questions about it.”

“Hey wait, me too!” Sammy broke in. “I can’t believe I’m friends with a werewolf!”

“I asked first, dummy,” Sarah said, giving Sammy a shove.

“I like werewolves,” Cat exclaimed excitedly, as though she had made an amazing new discovery. “Because I like Keith.”

\---

Lance stood on the train platform, saying goodbye to his family as he prepared to take the train back to Altea.

His mother hugged him and held him tight right before he could clamber onto the train.

“ _Regresa pronto, mijo_. I’ll miss you. And remember to tell Keith that he’s always welcome to come back and stay with us.”

“I will mom. Love you,” Lance said, grinning and then turning to get onto the whistling train. He leaned out the window to wave goodbye to Cat, Lucas, and Camila on the train platform before slipping inside to join his friends in their compartment.

Pidge and Hunk were happily chatting about going back to school, but Keith sat pressed to the window, curled in on himself, jiggling his leg and letting his eyes flit around. Lance placed a hand on his back and tried to smile encouragingly.

“You got this,” he whispered.

“Hm. Okay. Sure.”

“Chill man.”

“Right. Chill. I can do that.”

\---

Keith wiped his hands on his jeans, clearing his throat with some hesitance.

“Um, Pidge, Hunk,” he said. “I have something to tell you.”

Lance nodded from beside him, and Pidge and Hunk leaned forward, waiting.

“Um. I’m a werewolf,” Keith declared, releasing the confession in one long breath. He stared at his lap, but in the following silence, lifted his gaze in worry.

Pidge and Hunk were staring at him with strange, tense looks on their faces and Keith’s heart sank. It was stupid to believe that everyone would be so accepting of him, he thought bitterly. But Pidge and Hunk both suddenly burst out laughing, Hunk letting out warm booms of laughter while Pidge hiccuped into her hand, and Keith jumped, eyes wide.

“Wha-” he started to ask.

“Um, obviously,” Pidge spit out between giggles. “Why else would you be disappearing every _full_ _moon_? Why you’re sick at the same time every month? Or why you go to Shiro for treatment instead of Miss Eloise?”

“Yeah, we kinda figured and were waiting for you to tell us. Sorry if you were stressed about it, dude,” Hunk added.

“It’s just, it’s kinda funny, you know? You always act like the epitome of the tragic mystery guy, but you’re kind of oblivious, Keith,” Pidge said.

“What? I just-I thought you guys would hate me or something!” Keith yelled in outrage, but he felt a laugh bubbling up inside him too, and couldn’t fight the smile that stretched across his face.

“Dude we’re your friends. It doesn’t matter to us,” Hunk said warmly, and Pidge nodded at his side, still recovering from her fit of giggles.

“Wait! You guys _knew_ this whole time? How? Why didn’t you tell me?” Lance shouted, indignant, but also succumbing to laughter in the little train car.

“Well, it was Keith’s secret to tell,” Hunk said, still smiling broadly. “I figured you’d find out eventually.”

“Of course Lance was the only one oblivious enough not to notice that his own roommate was a werewolf,” Pidge added, before breaking down again.

“Hey, rude!” Lance countered. “I’m just not as nosy as you two.”

Keith let out a laugh, feeling a weight leave his shoulders, and their conversation quickly devolved into raucous nonsense.

\---

“Alright. I’ll be expecting your papers on Monday. Good work today, class,” Professor Holt announced, dismissing the Defense Against the Dark Arts class for the day. Lance stretched in his seat and began gathering up his books.

“Um, Lance? Would you stay behind for a moment?”

Pidge, Hunk, and Keith shot Lance questioning looks, smirking and looking at him knowingly when he shrugged his shoulders.

“You must’ve done something pretty terrible to get on my brother’s bad side,” Pidge whispered smugly.

“Um, _just_ Lance,” Matt said, pointedly eyeing the other three students. They scrambled out the door and Matt turned to Lance.

“So, I remember you asking for some extra lessons on how to fight off the dementors. I have time this week if you want to start.”

“Wait really?” Lance asked, immediately straightening up and grinning. “That would be awesome!”

“Alright. How about we meet here Thursday after last block?”

Lance nodded enthusiastically. “Yessir.”

“Great.”

\---

So Lance found himself knocking on Professor Holt’s door that Thursday after Herbology, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet as he prepared himself to go in.

“Come on in.”

Lance pushed in the door and found Professor Holt poring over a few thick, dusty tomes. His desk was cluttered with books, mostly, as well as samplings of different plant species and magical ingredients. Broken quills littered the floor, a few crunching under Lance’s feet as he stepped forward to greet Matt.

“Hey, Lance. You’re right on time.”

“Hey Professor.”

Matt looked up with a vague smile, like he was still half-living in his book, before straightening up and slamming it shut. “Alright, so I thought we’d start with the basics. And I believe the basics begin with confrontation and action. So let’s get out there and fight some dementors!”

“What?” Lance asked, eyes wide. “Wait, wait, wait. Now?”

“Yup, here we go,” Matt said, grabbing Lance’s sleeve and tugging him out the door.

\---

“There are a couple dementors here. They like to patrol this corridor because it’s forbidden to students,” Matt explained in hushed tones as he and Lance drew close to a large, wooden door.

“Now, I’m going to open the door and you get ready to attack. The incantation spoken is _Expecto Patronum_. Got it?”

“Um, yeah, _Expecto Patronum_ ,” Lance muttered to himself. “Expectopatronumexpecto patronumexpectopatronum.”

“I think you got it,” Matt interrupted.

“Do I got it? I don’t know, man,” Lance said, his voice rising in pitch. Where was that horrible smell coming from? Was that him? Lance wiped his hands on his jeans and frowned at his shirt, now soaked in sweat.

Matt gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s okay to be nervous, but don’t worry. I remember my first time seeing a dementor was terrifying. Back then, I hadn’t experienced much, and the saddest memory I had to re-live was of burying my first pet owl, Freddie, under the Whomping Willow.”

“Freddie?”

“After Friedrich Hollingsworth, the wizard famous for getting burned at the stake like 700 times? He literally dedicated his life to trolling Muggles.”

“Friedrich Hollingsworth. I’ll have to look him up,” Lance said thoughtfully, feeling slightly calmer.

“Yup, definitely. He’s truly an example of magic’s infinite possibilities. But, back to the lesson,” Matt announced with a swish of his wand. Lance nodded, squaring his shoulders to fight.

“Now, the important thing to remember when confronting a dementor is to remember,” Matt advised.

“To remember, yeah totally,” Lance repeated, clutching his wand. “Wait. Remember what?”

“You have to think of a happy memory. Dementors feed off of the bad memories, the pain in their victims. They force them to relive their past tortures. By thinking of something happy, you block them from your mind, and give them nothing to feed off of.”

“Okaaay. Something happy.” Lance shut his eyes, remembering the euphoria and breathless excitement of scoring his first ten points for Gryffindor.

“Transport yourself back to the paaaast,” Matt said, wiggling his fingers in the air around Lance. “Sail through tiiiiime.”

Lance imagined the wind in his hair, the cheering of the crowd, the whistle of the quaffle as it sailed through the hoop. “Okay, um, got it.”

“Great! Time to fight!” Matt exclaimed, throwing the door open.

“Wait, now?!”

A great, black dementor down the hall turned its head and began gliding swiftly towards them. Lance gripped his wand in the now frigid air and stood to attention, thinking of the wind, the speed, the cheering crowds.

“Expecto patronum!” he shouted at the rapidly approaching dementor. “Expecto patronum!”

He tried again, and a wisp of silver fluttered out of his wand, creating a fog that seemed to slow and confuse the dementor.

“Yes! Good! You’re getting it!” Matt shouted excitedly.

Lance repeated the spell, but the dementor was too close, and his heart was pounding furiously. His hands, gripped tightly around his wand, grew clammy, and he shuddered as the dementor drew closer.

Lance was suddenly regaled with visions, a stormcloud of memories. He was a little kid, crying on the train platform as Lucas and Camila waved at him from the windows, about to ship off to Altea. He was up at night, worrying about Keith, whose bed was empty beside him again. He was plunging his arms into an icy pond, trying to grab Sarah after she had tripped and fallen in. He was huddled at the top of the stair listening to his mother stifle her weeping after hearing the news of his father’s death.

And then he was back in the school corridor, feeling dazed, stumbling a little as his vision blurred into focus and he saw Matt pushing the dementor back with a bright shield of silver and slamming the door.

“Well, progress is progress. And you’ve made some very fast,” Matt said, smiling. He handed Lance a bar of chocolate, which he promptly shoved into his mouth. The warmth of the chocolate spread throughout his body, bringing feeling tingling back into his chest all the way to his toes.

“Do you want to try again?” Matt asked.

“Um, yeah. Sure,” Lance said, cracking his neck and grabbing his wand again. “Let’s go.”

“Hang on. Before we start again, what was your memory?” Matt asked, pushing his glasses up his nose and peering curiously at Lance.

“Oh, um. It was my first score in quidditch.”

“Ah, nice. That was a great game, by the way.”

“Oh, thanks.” Lance smiled bashfully, tugging at the hem of his shirt.

“Okaaay, so I take it _flying_ is really important to you,” Matt prompted.

“Yeah, I love it,” Lance answered simply, thinking of the adrenaline, the thrill, the pure reckless joy.

“What else do you love?”

“Um, I don’t know. I guess, my friends and family?” Lance shrugged a little, smiling sheepishly.

“Right,” Matt agreed. “Dementors are cold, unfeeling creatures, you know. They can’t understand things like love or the comfort of people we care about. Which is why it can be helpful to think of those in your life that you seek solace in, or those who you go to for support.”

“Uh huh. I think I get it.”

“Great. I’m going to open the door.”

“Yup.”

Lance steeled himself, remembering the first day his father had taken him out to the backyard and shown him how to toss garden gnomes over the fence. Lance pictured the way his dad smiled crookedly and placed a finger over his lips like they shared a huge secret. How he’d lifted Lance up and spun him around in triumph.

It reminded Lance of the time he had taught Keith how to get rid of the garden gnomes in the very same backyard. He remembered smiling when Keith’s nose scrunched up as he laughed, watching the focus in Keith’s eyes when he was trying to catch a gnome, his little relieved smile every time he sent one flying over the fence. Lance tingled at the memory of  the sour lime popsicles that they’d sat on the porch to eat afterwards, remembered how Keith had nibbled his way around the sides experimentally, slurping happily on the frozen treat.

The dementor began to close in, and Lance was ready. “Expecto patronum!” he shouted. A silvery wisp appeared and then dissolved into the air.

“Expecto patronum!” he shouted again, and a thick cloud of silver shot from the tip of his wand, forming a barrier between him and the dementor.

“Yes! Beautiful!” Matt shouted over the roaring in Lance’s ears. With breaths escaping from his chest and heart pounding in delight, Lance steadily pushed the dementor back into the dark hallway until Matt could slam the door.

“Excellent work. You’ve made so much progress already and that’s a really hard spell.”

“Thanks,” Lance said, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling to the side.

“Now when you _really_ get the hang of it. Your patronus will take on the shape of an animal. Mine, for example, is an owl. But you’ll get there in a while. After a couple more practices. You’re doing great.”

“Dude, that was so cool.”

“Right? Now, can I ask what you thought of this time?”

“Um yeah, it was like, de-gnoming the garden with my dad, and uh, my friends.”

“Very cool,” Matt said, nodding in approval.

“Uh, what do you usually think about?” Lance asked tentatively, stowing his wand in his robes.

“Me? Well, I remember the first time I cast the spell correctly, I thought of this walk with my father and Pidge. We were just, you know, walking around in the fields outside our house. My dad would identify flower species and tell us about how to use them in different potions. Pidge was always more interested in chasing the pigeons. That’s why we started calling her Pidge, you know.” Matt smiled fondly at the memory as he turned to walk back down the corridor with Lance.

“Awwwwww.”

“Yeah. Pretty cheesy. What can I say? I love my family. And judging from your memory, I’d say you really do as well.”

“Ew. I guess.” Lance shrugged, but couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

Lace grinned. “Um, well thanks for the help, Matt.”

“That’s Professor Holt to you, buddy.”

\---

“Do you think Allura and Shiro are a thing?” Lance speculated as he walked down the hall, arm in arm with Hunk.

“What? You think Professor Allura and Professor Shiro are like, dating?” Keith asked, peeking his head around to look at Lance from Hunk’s other side.

“Yeah, like they’re all buddy-buddy all the time,” Lance said with a shrug.

Keith bit his lip thoughtfully. The two often seemed to have secret, intimate conversations, and Allura had been really worried about Shiro last year. Keith had never quite thought of it like that, but he also knew that he could be oblivious to certain obvious social cues.

“They do get along well,” Hunk allowed, stroking his chin in thought.

“So, they’re friends. That’s what happens when two nice, capable adults work together,” Keith pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“Two nice, capable, incredibly _attractive_ adults,” Lance reminded him. “And they’re like the same age. _And_ we know they totally hang out since we saw them at Hogsmeade.”

“Yeah, well, Matt was there too, so unless they really enjoy dragging him along on their dates, I highly doubt they’re a thing,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes and smirking.

“I would drag Professor Holt around on dates,” Lance announced. “He’s way cooler than you.”

“You know, Lance, I _could_ be offended, but I actually kind of agree,” Pidge said, shrugging one shoulder.

Keith laughed along with the others, but they were quickly hushed by the sound of voices arguing in the next room. The four children crept forwards and peeked around the corner, catching sight of Matt and Shiro bowed close together in intense discussion.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to keep it _here_ ,” Professor Shiro whispered heavily.

“ _Here_ is the safest place there is,” Matt countered. “Anyway, what choice do I have? The ministry wants me to protect this,” Matt said, lifting something small and shiny to the light before quickly placing it back in his pocket. “And Altea’s known for being one of the most secure locations in the wizarding world.”

“The last two years have proven that it’s kind of not, Matt. He’s messed with your position twice in a row. And the last thing I want is for you to get hurt.”

“That’s why Allura had to employ someone she trusts. Someone she knows,” Matt said. “And that’s why I’m here.”

“I know you can handle this, but you have to understand how dangerous he can be.”

“Trust me, Shiro, I know. But after his confrontation with Lance two years ago, he’s been weakened. Some people think he’s dead. Gone for good.”

Keith let his gaze slide over to Lance, who was crouched by the doorway, listening intently. His eyes widened at the mention of his name, and he seemed to curl in on himself, tucking his chin into his chest and bringing his eyebrows together in uncertainty.

“You and I both know that’s not true. He always comes back here. He’s _fixated_ on this school for some reason.” Shiro said, dragging his hands through his hair and letting out a worried sigh.

“Yeah, that’s part of the reason I’m here, you know, because Allura wanted me to keep an eye on Lan-“ At that moment, Hunk shifted his weight, only to accidentally crush Keith’s pinkie toe underfoot. He let out a little cry in pain, but quickly silenced himself, eyes wide in horror.

“Wait.” Shiro suddenly silenced Matt, lifting a finger to his lips.

“What?”

“I thought I just heard something.” The children stared at each other, carefully slinking backwards into the corridor.  Once they had all made it back into the hall, they stood for a moment, looking at each other in confusion. Then, coming to a mutual silent agreement, they swiveled around and began hastily making their way back down the hall.

They came to a stop when they reached the top of a staircase, pink-faced and out of breath.

“Okay, new question,” Lance said, still breathing hard. “Do you think Matt and Shiro are a thing?”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, Lance.”

\---

“What was all that about?” Hunk asked when the four had made their way safely down to the dining hall.

“I don’t know?” Pidge said, perplexed. “I mean, I know Matt works for the Ministry, but I figured he was taking a break from it as a favor to Allura this year. I thought it was because he’s having some issues with the minister.”

Keith frowned. Matt’s teaching position had always seemed temporary, so it made sense for him not to stick around. But his conversation with Shiro hadn’t just been about the school.

“It sounded like they were talking about Zarkon,” Keith burst out. “They mentioned that time he fought Lance.”

Lance jumped in his seat. “I mean, wait, I didn’t like, _fight_ him. I just yelled at him a little-”

“Yeah they were definitely talking about the time Lance defeated Zarkon,” Pidge agreed, interrupting Lance’s ramblings. “But what about that thing Matt’s supposed to protect? He’s never mentioned it to me.”

“Guys,” Lance pleaded. “I didn’t ‘defeat’ him okay, he shot me with a killing spell and it didn’t work.”

Hunk smiled good-naturedly. “Uh huh, we get it, buddy, you’re a big hero.”

“No I-“ Lance paused, letting the words sink in. “I mean, yeah. Totally. Big hero. Lance McClain. Hero.”

Keith exchanged skeptical glances with Pidge, who spoke up. “Can we _please_ get back to the subject at hand?”

“I don’t know, Pidge,” Hunk said. “It sounded like none of our business.”

“They _were_ talking about Lance,” Keith pointed out, sticking up for Pidge. “I mean, it seemed pretty relevant for the whole school.”

“They mentioned Lance in _passing_ ,” Hunk corrected. “They were really just talking about protecting magic stuff and worrying about Zarkon returning. Why do we always have to get all up in the drama here? Why can’t I just have one peaceful year? I could enjoy these lovely meals, soak up all the wizard knowledge, make friends!” Hunk pleaded, looking around at his friends in false hope.

“Aw, don’t pretend like you have any trouble making friends, big guy,” Lance said, patting Hunk on the back. “And actually, I kind of agree with Pidge and Keith. We may have to do some investigating.”

Hunk let out a groan and placed his head in his hands. “Alright, fine. We start tomorrow at the library after Keith and Lance’s Quidditch game. Bring the evil potion book, Pidge.”

Pidge nodded. “Already on it.”

\---

Lance pressed his nose into Lapis’ fur, enjoying how her warmth encircled him in the slightly chilly spring morning. It had become a sort of tradition for him to come and visit Lapis before a Quidditch match. She made him feel safe. She helped him remember the insignificance of this one game in the scope of his life.

“Morning, beautiful,” he mumbled softly, feeling her rumbling purr in response.

“Are you going to share a secret with me today or do I owe you another story?”

Lapis’ amusement fluttered through Lance’s mind in response and he grinned. “Ok, ready when you are.”

Lapis leaned forward, her stare suddenly serious, and pressed her nose to Lance’s forehead.

He found himself in a dingy room in a small, creaky wooden house. Hearing shouting outside, he slipped out the door to investigate. Outside, a young boy with light brown hair and a soft, open face was running in circles in the sand, giggling and racing a house elf, who was smiling up at him affectionately.

Lance grinned as he watched the scene, jumping in surprise when he realized someone had appeared in the doorway behind him. A pale, harsh woman stood at the entrance to the old house. Her mousy brown hair was drawn back in a tight, shiny ponytail, and she held a wand tightly at her side as she scolded the boy.

“Get inside now. And quit fooling around with that thing. Into the house, Millie. You have duties to attend to.” The woman, who Lance decided he definitely did not like, picked up the house elf by the back of her tea towel and tossed her inside like a rag doll, making the young boy shudder and look angrily up at the woman.

“Mom, you treat her so badly, how is she supposed to do the tasks that you give her?”

“She’ll manage. That’s what they exist for, isn’t it?”

“I just don’t think you’re being very fair-”

“Oh, not fair? Having to raise you on my own isn’t fair. Having to cook all the meals and wash the house isn’t fair. When your mudblood father left, that wasn’t fair. Because of him, I have to do all the work around here, and your _poor_ little house elf is paying for his mistake, too.”

“I don’t-ow, Mom, please!” Lance stared in dismay as the woman grabbed her son by the ear and dragged him into the house.

“Edwards,” the woman scoffed mockingly, releasing the boy and pushing him back into the dusty cupboards in their kitchen. The boy stumbled over the stone floor and turned back to glare at his mother, who kept complaining as she rattled pots and pans in the sink. “What a disgusting muggle name. You should be ashamed of it. You should be ashamed of the dirty blood you’ll have to carry around all your life because of it.“

“It’s not my fault he hated you!” the little boy cried, on the verge of tears. “ _I_ hate you!”

The woman stepped back in shock. “I…I’m your mother. You know I love you, always. I do all of this for you.”

Lance watched in shock at the mother’s complete change in character.

“Oh, I don’t want you to think badly of me. I’m just hard on you because I care about you. I want you to be better than everyone, and I need you to understand how the world works so you can do that,” the mother continued, placing a hand on her son’s head. Lance watched on in disgust, balling his hands up into fists.

The woman hooked her fingers under the boy’s chin, forcing him to look up at her. “There are some things you don’t know yet.” She moved her hands to grip the little boy’s arms as she looked him in the eyes. “Like that house elves and Muggles are beneath you. You have good, _wizard_ blood in those veins.”

“I _like_ all the Muggles that I’ve met. And Millie has always been nice to me,” the boy said, sobbing slightly.

The woman’s face twisted dangerously and she dug her fingernails into the boy’s skinny arms. “One day, you’ll understand, you stupid child. If you really love me, you’ll listen to me.” She let go, causing the boy to gasp in pain as she retracted her nails from his arms.

“I, um, of course I’m listening, mom. I understand,” the boy said, rubbing his bruised, crescent-marked skin and staring down at the ground in an attempt to appease his mother’s fluctuating temper.

“And so what? I’m all alone here. I have to raise you by myself and what do I get?”

“Thank you mother. I love you. I know how hard you work.”

“Good. You’re a good boy, Zachary.”

\---

“What the heck, Lapis? Why’d you show me that? Who was that kid? Is he in trouble?”

Lapis stared back at Lance, her message resounding in his head.

_Sometimes, to know your greatest enemies, you must first understand your dearest friends._

“What does that even mean?” Lance frowned. Lapis could be cryptic when she wanted.

“I mean, I know for sure I’m not friends with that kid,” Lance started. “Wait…should I be? Do I need to find a kid named Zachary and befriend him to save him from that creepy lady?”

Lapis’ thoughts rumbled through his mind again. _No, Lance. You are already deeply connected to the boy, although you have never met him._

“Well. Is he…is he okay?” Lance’s nails dug into his palms as he imagined the little boy, crouched in the corner of his room, unshielded from the onslaught of his mother’s cruelty.

_So many questions. Soon you will understand._

“Great,” Lance said. “Soon. That’s what everyone keeps telling me, but maybe I’m just really dumb ‘cause I don’t understand anything that’s happening anymore.”

 _Soon,_ Lapis repeated.

\---

Lance silently laced up his robes as he prepared for his last quidditch game of the year. He couldn’t get the image of the young boy out of his mind. Something about him had seems do _familiar_ , so comfortable. Lance worried about the boy he’d seen running around outside, his nose scrunched with laughter, his eyes big and bright. He wondered what happened to the boy who’d fought back against his bigoted mother, the boy who’d pretended to give in.

 _No one that young should ever have to manage their parents like that! Especially alone. She was acting like a kid throwing a tantrum,_ Lance thought, scowling at his boots.

“You good, Lance?” Keith asked from beside him.

“Oh, um yeah. Just pre-game nerves.”

“Why? You’ve been our most effective Chaser in every game this year. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone.”

Lance’s heart swelled obnoxiously at Keith’s words and he grinned in spite of himself.

“Thanks, Keith.”

Keith smiled, looking down at the ground. “Well, whatever. I mean, you didn’t have to hear it from me to make it true.”

“Well then look out, Keith, I might just be on my way to claiming a Gryffindor victory without your help."

“Hm. I doubt it,” a voice said from behind Lance. He swiveled around, coming face to face with a girl in their year.

“Hi. I’m Nyma Naledi. I don’t think we’ve met?”

“Uh, um, no I don’t-I don’t think we have.” He stuck out his hand to shake and she gripped it firmly, smiling.

Lance might not have met her, but he knew who Nyma was. He’d seen her in class, maybe made eye contact with her once or twice. It was just so hard _not_ to notice her, with her rich, coffee-colored skin, dramatically high cheekbones and long neck. She had a wide, flat nose that brought prominence to her full lips and pointed chin. Her braided black hair was pulled back into two thick ponytails, and when she smiled, her face curved delicately around her two big, bottomless eyes. Eyes that Lance could barely drag his gaze from.

“Nyma Naledi? It’s um, nice to meet you.”

“You too. I’m filling in for Johanna. She’s sick today.”

“Right.”

“Just thought I’d introduce myself. And say good luck. But Slytherin is going to win.”

“Um, yeah,” Lance mumbled incoherently. “I mean, no! Gryffindor is the best. We’re undefeated this year, right Keith?”

Lance elbowed Keith, but the other boy was too busy staring at Nyma. Probably transfixed by her looks, too, Lance thought with a spike of annoyance.

“Hello? Earth to Keith? It’s rude to stare, dude.”

“What? Oh. Sorry.” Keith didn’t sound very sorry.

“It’s okay. I’m used to being stared at,” Nyma said, flipping her ponytail behind her shoulder.

“Oh um-” Lance began, but Nyma shushed him.

“Make it up to me with a good game, and I might be able to forgive you,” she said, smirking. “Good luck.”

\---

Lance stood to attention as Tim, his team captain, shook hands with Rolo before the game. Feeling the tension rolling off of Keith beside him, Lance reached over and squeezed the other boy’s wrist, feeling warm when Keith looked back at him with wide eyes and gave him a nervous half-smile.

The whistle blew and Lance kicked off of the ground. Kelly Wong, a Slytherin, immediately ended up in possession of the Quaffle, but when she tried to pass it off to Nyma, Lance was there. He quickly intercepted and caught the Quaffle, making his way down the quidditch pitch. He tossed it to Stephanie when a Slytherin sent a Bludger his way, ducking just in time. With the Quaffle in hand, Stephanie pushed forward a bit further before passing it back to Lance. Close enough to the goal, Lance spun on his tail and sent the Quaffle through a hoop on the end, just making it through.

“Excellent shot, Lance!” Professor Allura’s voice boomed over them, making Lance swell with pride. “Ten points to Gryffindor.”

“Nice one,” Nyma called as the players prepared to get the Quaffle back into play.

“Thanks,” Lance replied, his grin hurting his cheeks.

Stephanie ended up in possession of the Quaffle, passing it off to Lance. This time, however, when he shot what should have been a neat pass to Tim, Nyma shot her arm out and intercepted the Quaffle. Once in possession, she barreled her way down the Quidditch pitch, and tossed the ball through the hoop at the speed of light. Lance gaped.

“Look at you, trying to keep up,” Nyma called to him, smirking.

“I don’t have to ‘try’ to do that,” Lance said, fighting a smile of his own.

With the ball back in play, Lance quickly attained the Quaffle, and was racing his way down the field when Allura announced that Keith had caught the Snitch. Keith sat atop his broomstick, smiling smugly, the little golden ball flickering weakly in his fist.

With cheers and shrill screams of celebration, the players all descended to the field. Lance grabbed Keith around the waist and pulled him into a crushing hug, hearing his little gasp of surprise before the rest of the team had piled up on top of them.

“Dude, Keith. We just fucking won the Quidditch cup!”

“I know,” Keith exclaimed breathlessly from within the throngs of writhing celebration. He grabbed both of Lance’s shoulders, hair tousled and messy from the wind, eyes big and shining with excitement. “We did it!”

\---

“Alright, let’s make this quick. I wanna get back to the _Gryffindor_ celebrations for Quidditch cup as soon as possible if you don’t mind,” Lance said, nose in the air and a smug grin on his face.

Keith couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face in response. “Yeah, although we do _hate_ to rush you two,” he added. “Since _you_ don’t have any celebrations to attend.”

“Ha ha, screw you guys, we get it. Gryffindor won. We’re here to focus on serious school mysteries, remember?” Pidge reminded them haughtily.

“Congrats, though. You guys both played really well today and I’m very proud,” Hunk said matter-of-factly, grabbing Keith in one arm and Lance in the other and hugging them tight.

“Whatever. You guys flew around with sticks between your legs and touched some balls. Like I said, I don’t care and I don’t want to know,” Pidge declared.

Lance stuck out his tongue. “Well, when you say it like that…it kinda just makes me want to rub it in your face some more.”

Keith grinned, letting his chin fall into his hands as he watched Lance gesticulate wildly while teasing Pidge and relating the game to Hunk.

“Alright, chill, Lance. Look at this ingredients list,” Pidge said, holding the book open to the immortality potion. Keith leaned over the book, scanning the page.

“I don’t know, Pidge, some of this stuff looks really um, sketchy…” Hunk said, eyebrows pinching in concern. “I mean, you know, tooth of the lion, blood of the enemy, bone of the traitor? That can not taste good.”

“Well, we know Zarkon already has the quintessence and the lion’s tooth,” Keith said, concentrating hard on the page. “Do you think Matt might be protecting some other ingredient that Shiro thinks Zarkon wants?”

“Yeah, sounds like it.”

“Okay, so like, what else is there?” Pidge said, running her finger down the list of ingredients. “It says here that-”

“Pidge?” It was Professor Shiro, hair scruffy and chest heaving. Keith noticed the way his metal hand was clenched tightly, making slight indentations in the bookshelf he was leaning on. “Can I speak to you?”

Pidge raised a skeptical eyebrow at the other three, then stood up and left the room with Shiro. Keith waited in silence, suddenly feeling the weight of the air around him. When Pidge returned a few minutes later, looking pale and angry, he knew something was wrong.

“What’s up?” Lance asked, leaning forward and placing a hand on Pidge’s shoulder.

“Uh. It’s— Matt’s missing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you guys notice all the gay/werewolf parallels  
> Keith sorta comes out in this chapter for the *first* time so get hype  
> who is little zach and will he be okay ->probs not lol  
> idk if u guys remember this but this name has come up somewhere before *hint hint*  
> PAtrOnUsES iM SO hYPE
> 
> OH Also a word on Shallura/Shatt--I will be playing around with this dynamic a lot tbh  
> there will be no actual canon pairings or any clearly defined relationships for any of them because i want to focus on klance, but i kinda ship all of them (allura, shiro, matt) a little bit?? so like lol, there'll probs be faint traces of it, and more little cute moments like in this chapter
> 
> LANCE HAS A CRUSH ON EVERYONE OK-Nyma's not a threat, so y'all can chill, this fic is strictly klance
> 
> mah tumblr lol @awkward-gimble 
> 
> Spanish translate:  
> No me mientas-Don't lie to me bitch  
> Esto vale mucho para keith- this is v important to my boyf  
> por favor-plz  
> regresa pronto mijo-come back soon, mah bootiful boi


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING-graphic violence stuff coming up  
> book 3 ends todayyyy babyyyyy  
> if you forgot the story because i am lame and an asshole i am sorry let me update you  
> \--Matt disappeared!!! o m g  
> \--Tbh i forgot what happened too and i couldn't be bothered to reread what i wrote so yeah that's the only important thing to know i guess  
> \--also zarkon's making an evil immortality potion and a bunch of weird stuff is in it, including time turner sand, sooooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi lol

“Are you gonna be okay, Pidge?” Hunk asked concernedly, placing a hand on her shoulder at dinner.

“Will all you guys stop babying me already?” Pidge complained, shaking her napkin out on her lap.

“We’re just kinda...worried about you. I mean, he is your brother. I’d be freaking out if I were you,” Lance added with a sympathetic smile.

“Great. I feel so much better now, knowing that you too would be suffering in my position.”

“Look, Pidge, we just want to know that you’re okay, and not, you know, on the verge of mental breakdown,” Keith supplied, looking up from his plate of food and fixing Lance with a silencing glare. Lance shrugged helplessly, mouthing  _ What? _

“You guys, I’m totally, completely fine.”

“Oh, well that’s goo-” Hunk started, before he was interrupted by PIdge.

“Because I’m going to get my brother  _ back _ ,” she announced, plopping her napkin on the table and scooting back from her empty soup bowl. “I’m going to the library.”

Lance followed suit, pushing back from the table with Keith not far behind. Hunk watched them stand and gave out a long, resounding sigh. “I guess this means we have to follow her, huh?”

“Sorry buddy, I don’t make the rules,” said Lance.

\---

“So, uh, what exactly are we expecting to find in the library?” Keith asked, peering over a stack of books to get a good look at Pidge, who had secluded herself amidst piles of parchment and prose, moodily jotting something down before returning to her book.

“Anything! I bet Zarkon is behind this,” Pidge announced, waving the immortality potion recipe in front of Keith’s nose. He flinched, knocking the book from her hands on reflex.

“Okay, chill, you guys,” Lance said, looking up tiredly from his own book. “Pidge, don’t you think you’re reaching a bit?”

Hunk nodded, “Yeah. How can you know that Zarkon did this? Matt’s an important guy. He’s been around, you know? He does important work. What if he’s not even missing? What if he just went down to to Hogsmeade and forgot to mention it?”

Pidge fixed Hunk with a levelled glare, and he shrank away. “Okay, that last suggestion might be a little, um, insensitive. I’m worried too. I just don’t think you’re taking very good care of yourself.”

“Wait, no, you guys. I think Pidge is right. Zarkon is definitely behind this,” Keith interjected. “We all heard Matt and Shiro talking about him, remember? Clearly he has something that Zarkon wants.”

“Ugh, I am so  _ sick  _ of this guy!” Lance let out an exasperated sigh, letting his face fall forward into the book he was reading. Keith exchanged looks with Hunk and Pidge before reaching out to give Lance a pat on the back, feeling the way Lance’s low whine rumbled in his chest. Keith quickly drew his hand away.

Suddenly sitting up, Lance angled his gaze back down at his book, eyebrows crinkling in confusion. He peered through one of the pages, flipping around to reveal a passage highlighted in red.

“What is-”

“Give me that,” Pidge said, grabbing the book and poring over it. 

“The highlighted part says, ‘Owl Eyes lay, unbound from his worry, at the tree’s root, for death could always be staved off as long as he had the will to live, to protect. Clouds of silver fluttered before the sun, and he bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood. Turning his head and reclaiming his heartbeat, he shut his eyes, remembering that he still rested in the heart of the safest place there was.’”

“What the heck does that mean?” Lance asked peering at the book over Pidge’s shoulder.

Keith frowned, feeling doubtful. “It’s just an old story. Some kid probably highlighted it while they were studying or something.”

“This is Matt’s favorite book,” Pidge retorted. “He knows it back to front, like every single word, I’m not even kidding.”

“Okay...so, what do we do with it? Because I’m just gonna go against the crowd here and say that we should show it to Professor Shiro,” Hunk suggested. Lance raised a questioning eyebrow at him while Pidge held the book to her chest, suddenly possessive.

“No way,” she exclaimed. “We’ll lose our only lead.”

“No, I think Hunk might be right. Shiro is Matt’s friend, and they clearly know more about what’s going on than we do. Shiro will know what to do, or at least have a more informed idea,” Lance added. Keith knit his eyebrows together, listening to Lance argue his point as worry stirred in his chest.

Without thinking, he rounded on Lance. “We can’t just go asking the adults for help. They’ll get mad that we’re trying to get involved and keep us from finding out anything else.” 

“And for good reason,” Lance retorted. “Or do you need reminding of the fact that you almost died two years in a row?”

“Yeah because there were people we had to help! Unless you’ve forgotten that, too,” Keith shouted back, prompting several heads to turn and shush the group angrily. It’s not that he didn’t trust Shiro; he’d just learned to rely on himself in times like these, and the idea of turning over what could be an important clue tugged at his insides, making him uneasy. Keith glowered around at them, feeling the tension shiver in his shoulders.

“Guys!” Hunk interjected in a whisper. “This isn’t helping. I say, we already have the book. We search it for more clues, and write down what we have. Then we show it to Shiro. We need all the help we can get.”

“That works,” Pidge said, already flipping through the book with her tongue poking out of her mouth.

“But I still think it’s a bad idea,” Keith said, crossing his arms and pulling his lips tight. “Shiro will know what we’re doing if we show it to him.”

“Yes, but Hunk’s right. This is my brother’s life. The more possible leads, the better,” Pidge 

Keith rolled his eyes in response to the smug look of triumph Lance shot him over the top of his book. 

Sighing, Keith leaned back in his chair. “Fine.”

\---

Shiro leaned over the book, flipping through the pages, with his eyebrows drawn tightly together. Lance watched him tear through the pages frantically, unease settling in his gut. A tight pain ripped across the scars on his chest and he bit back a wince. Part of the reason he had wanted to go to Shiro was because he had started feeling pains in his scar more often than usual, and in the hopes of avoiding another encounter with Zarkon, he thought that maybe getting an adult involved was the best idea. He was growing tired of endangering his friends more and more with each passing year.

“Where did you find this?” Shiro asked, not looking up at the children as he continued to flip through the book.

“The library,” Pidge answered promptly, eyeing Shiro from behind her glasses.

Shiro stopped flipping as he came to the highlighted passage, muttering under his breath.

“Owl Eyes…”

Lance cleared his throat. “Um, we just thought it could be important. Lead to some info about Professor Holt?”

Finally looking up from the book, Shiro’s gaze seemed to clear and he stared at the children in confusion. “Professor Holt? No, no, I doubt that,” he muttered distractedly, turning back to the book. “Look, I’d better hold on to this,” Shiro said, snatching up the book as Keith attempted to reach for it. 

“School policy doesn’t condone writing in library books, so I better keep it to um, to show to Professor Allura. Thanks for coming to me though. Uh, five house points each.”

The four children stared at one another in confusion as Shiro shooed them out the door. 

“Alright, you should all be getting to class now!”

“What the hell?” Lance asked, wondering why Shiro had been so short with them.

“That’s the last time we go running to the teachers for help,” Keith protested. “What did I tell you guys?”

“Relax, Keith,” Lance groaned, reaching out a hand to Keith’s shoulder in the hopes of calming his worries. “We wrote down everything we found in the book. We’re fine.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Keith mumbled, grouchily rolling his shoulder from Lance’s grip.

_ What’s got him in such a mood lately? _ Lance wondered, watching Keith stalk off down the corridor. 

“You think he’s acting all grouchy ‘cause the full moon’s coming up?” Lance whispered from the corner of his mouth while grinding an elbow into Hunk’s side. 

Hunk leaned down, speaking in hushed tones. “Well, yeah, I guess he starts Pre-Moon-Struating when it’s his  _ time of the month _ ,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Lance groaned. “Oh man, Hunk, buddy, I love you and all, but that was just...terrible. Seriously,  _ so bad _ .”

Hunk shrugged, smug grin still in place. “You gotta take all the chances in life to make bad puns, Lance. Otherwise what life are we living?”

With a sigh, Lance allowed Hunk to drag him to class.

\---

“Shhh! Quit shoving!” Lance hissed in Keith’s ear, hot breath washing over the side of his face and making him shiver. Face reddening, Keith wildly elbowed Lance in the ribs, making him rock back on his ankles and lose his balance, flopping ungracefully onto the floor. Keith glared at him and hunched further down, trying to hide his deepening blush from the others.

Lance gave out a small groan from where he now lay flat on the floor. “Keith, what the heck man?”

“Stop invading my space!”

“Seriously, guys. Shut up. This is important,” Pidge shushed the two with finality, peering through the crack in the door to Matt’s office.

“Is there anyone inside?” Hunk asked, pushing forward a little too far, forcing the door open a crack.

“Nope,” Pidge announced, slipping through the door into Matt’s office without hesitation. Hunk and Lance followed, while Keith stayed back for a moment, glancing warily around the surrounding hallways to be sure they weren’t spotted. He followed the others in, shutting the door behind them.

“What are we looking for, exactly?” Lance asked, picking up a jar on Matt’s shelf and inspecting it from different angles. Keith let out a snort and attempted to hide his smile when Lance turned the jar towards him and peered through it, winking at him with his magnified eye. His eyelashes fluttered exaggeratedly with the movement, and Keith coughed delicately into his hand, taking a sudden interest in a riveting stack of blank parchment on Matt’s desk.

“Clues,” Pidge explained impatiently, her little hands already roving over the bookshelves.

“Guys, check this out,” Hunk murmured, pointing to a piece of parchment on top of Matt’s desk. “It’s like some kind of note. Looks like it was written in a rush.”

Pidge approached the desk and grabbed the note. “That’s definitely his handwriting.”

“Well? What does it say?” Keith asked, leaning forward as Lance put the jar back and joined the three kids crowded around the desk.

“It says ‘I lie in the grave of my old friend, Friedrich Hollingsworth.”

“What?” Keith burst out. “Who’s that? What does that even mean?” He grabbed the letter from Pidge, letting his eyes pass over the hastily scrawled message.

“Wait? Friedrich Hollingsworth?” Hunk asked. “That sounds familiar. We had an assigned reading about him in History of Magic. You know, the guy who pretended to get burned at the stake a buncha times?”

“Yeah, I remember that,” Pidge remarked, pulling a large tome from Matt’s shelf and blowing off the dust. “This book has several important historical landmarks.” She paused, flipping until she reached the right page. “Aaaand, it looks like Freddie here is buried about 100 miles north of where we are.”

Keith watched the two brainstorm, still in a mild state of confusion, before Lance was suddenly chiming in beside him.

“Wait, wait. You just called him Freddie,” he stated simply, scrunching up his eyebrows at Pidge.

Pidge paused, confused. ‘“It was for comedic effect, Lance.”

“No no no. He’s not talking about the actual Friedrich Hollingsworth. He means his pet owl! He named him after that guy! He told me all about him when he was teaching me- uh when I went after class to ask him some questions,” Lance trailed off, looking to the side and scratching the back of his neck. Keith watched him curiously, wondering what he could be hiding.

“Actually, I do remember him having a pet owl named Freddie a really long time ago,” Pidge said, getting excited.

“Yeah. He told me he buried him under the Whomping Willow when he died,” Lance continued, picking up speed.

“And that totally makes sense! Because in the passage he underlined in that book, he said, ‘Owl Eyes lies under the tree, blah blah, he knew he was in the ‘safest place in the world!’ Pidge exclaimed. “He never left Altea! He’s still here.”

“Under the Whomping Willow?” Hunk asked. “Like, underground?”

A sudden thought struck Keith as the conversation played out, remembering his secret tunnel under the tree to a shack far from students he could hurt in his werewolf state. “ You guys,” he spoke up, causing the other three to turn their attention to him “I know where he is.”

\---

“Wait, you seriously want to do this right now?” Hunk asked, fiddling with his hands and peering out the window at the fading light.

“Yup,” Pidge said, shouldering her bag, and standing. “We’re checking out this Shrieking Shack thing tonight.”

“But, shouldn’t we take some time to like, process, plan, think this through?” Hunk began, staying seated beside Lance as Keith stood to join Pidge.

“It’s now or never,” Keith announced. “Matt could be in danger. And if we want to find him safe we have to act now.”

Lance sighed, also standing. “I hate that you’re right, but we gotta do this. Come on, man.” He offered a hand to Hunk, who took it with some reluctance and stood.

“Alright. Grab your invisibility cloaks and we meet at the front of the school in ten minutes,” Pidge said, already disappearing through the door. 

“See ya there,” Lance muttered.

\---

The four kids stood at the foot of the Whomping Willow, a great big tree, with wild, swinging branches. They ducked to avoid a thick branch as it whistled by, a little too close to comfort.

“Um how are we-” Lance began, but Keith was already moving. In slight awe, Lance watched as Keith gracefully slunk his way past the branches, ducking with ease, his limbs long and limber, well-practiced in this dance with the tree’s dangerous swinging appendages.

It wasn’t fair how easily Keith moved, sometimes. How easily he got things. How great he looked doing them. Lance let that thought wash over him with slight discomfort. Keith did look great. Hair fanning out behind him, legs and arms moving in perfect synchronisation, his purple eyes glowing with intensity as he bit his lip in concentration. He was sort of beautiful. In a glorious, powerful hero kind of way. In an I’ll-never-be-as-good-as-him kind of way, Lance thought bitterly. 

Finally, Keith reached the base of the tree, where he pressed his wand into a little knot in its roots, and leaned back, grinning with reckless pride as the tree’s movements slowed and became languid, as though attempting to keep swinging while coated in molasses.

Pidge cheered and stepped into the tunnel, followed closely by Hunk. Lance hesitated a moment, staring up at the tree, and Keith shot him a smirk.

“Ladies first,” he said motioning to the tunnel entrance, still smirking.

For some unknown reason (his irritation no doubt), Lance felt his ears flame up at this little action and glared back.

“Whatever mullet.”

\---

Keith guided his friends through the tunnel, making his way through the familiar set of twists and turns to reach the shack. As he rounded a corner, he found himself colliding with something large, hard, and  _ warm _ . He jumped back and landed hard on his ankle, causing his knee to buckle beneath him and he fell to the ground.

“Wha- Keith? Is that you? Are you okay?” The large thing hulking over him said. Keith lifted his eyes from the floor, coming to rest on Shiro’s face, which was currently peering down at him in concern.

Looking back over his shoulder, Keith saw Pidge, Lance, and Hunk glancing between him and Shiro in rising horror, and when he let his gaze return to Shiro, saw the same horror reflected in his teacher’s face.

“What are you kids doing out here?” he asked. “It’s past curfew.”

Pidge started, tripping slightly over her words. “We, um, well, we were-” 

“We’re here to save Professor Holt!” Keith blurted out without thinking. He figured there was little else to do than tell the truth.

Shiro stared at the four kids, mouth opening and closing silently. “No no no. I- _ I’m  _ here to save Matt. This is way too dangerous for any of you kids, and you need to get out of here now.”

“He’s  _ my _ brother,” Pidge said, planting her feet firmly on the floor with her hands on her hips. Hunk groaned, letting his face drop into his hands.

“Yes, but you guys are very young, and you have no idea what you’re dealing with here,” Shiro hissed at the kids in a panicked whisper. “Just, please, this would be much easier if you went back to your dorms right now, and you won’t get in trouble for being out after curfew hours.” 

Keith opened his mouth to argue, but was cut off by a loud crack and was no longer standing securely on the floor, but was now swinging five feet in the air, tangled up with the others in coils of tight black rope. His feet dangled above the ground and chilling laughter filled the little tunnel.

“Looks like more than one fly’s been lured into my trap. But who am I to deny you? The more, the merrier.”

Keith’s heart froze in his chest as a young man appeared with long, silvery blond hair just like Zarkon’s, a pointed nose, and sharp eyes. He took a step forward into the light, twirling his wand in excitement. 

“Lotor,” Shiro growled from beside Keith in their woven cage. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, the usual. My father’s just sent me out to take care of some rather tedious chores, as you can see, and I’d love to get them done quickly so I can move on to the fun stuff.”

“You mean like killing innocent people?” Shiro challenged.

Lotor paused with his wand in his mouth, as though mulling over the question. Then he suddenly grinned, a deadly smile full of oddly pointy teeth. “Speaking of killing innocent people, let’s go meet your friend, shall we?”

\---

Lance stumbled down the hallway, wincing at the burning pain around his wrists and ankles where Lotor had bound him with fiery magic.

“Thought you were smart finding your way down here, huh?” Lotor asked, amused. “I knew you’d find your way here. I forced the Holt boy to use his time turner to take us back in time and leave clues so I could lure you here.”

“You have the time turner?” Shiro asked, urgency and alarm potent in his voice.

“What do you think I came here for?” Lotor replied. “The sands of time within it can be used to turn back time on a life.”

“Time turner?” Lance whispered.

“It’s like a time travel device,” Pidge whispered back. “A little hourglass on a chain that takes you back in time when you turn it.”

“Zarkon will never get his hands on it,” Shiro announced, anxiety and frustration leaking through his careful composure. 

“Too late. I have it, but more importantly, I have  _ you _ . Zarkon will be very interested to meet you. Heard a lot about the great black paladin,” Lotor said mockingly, giving Shiro’s chains a tug and forcing him forward. “He says thanks for babysitting Ebony while he was away.”

Shiro surged forward angrily, but was jerked back, shouting in pain as the chain burned marks into his neck and hands. Lance grit his teeth.

“Enough of that,” Lotor said, leading them into a dingy wooden shack. He pointed his wand at what Lance had originally assumed was a dirty pile of clothes. Then the pile shifted, and Matt’s head emerged from it. He looked terrible, with gashes across his face, a puffy left eye, his glasses broken and askew on his face. The worst thing about his appearance though, was his right leg, which was twisted in an awkward angle, looking very  _ wrong _ , Lance thought. Peering closer, he thought he saw a flash of white peeking through the mangled skin, and turned his head, feeling nauseous.

Matt looked up, eyes wide and glassy, and leaned forward, wincing. “Shiro! I’m so sorry. He has the time turner and I-wait...Pidge? Kids? What are you doing here?”

“They found your clues, too,” Shiro said heavily, right before Lotor flicked his wand and sent him crashing to the floor beside Matt. Lance gasped as a crack echoed through the room and Shiro lay still for a moment. A sweaty hand found his and squeezed hard, and Lance looked sideways, meeting Keith’s worried gaze. He squeezed back, clutching tightly to the other boy’s fingers, reveling in the warmth and delicate pulse against his own.

Shiro shifted on the floor and sat up with a grunt. “So what? What do you plan on doing with us, then?”

“Well, Zarkon wants all of you dead,” Lotor began, pointing his wand at each of their faces. But...not you,” he said, pointing to Shiro. “Aaand...not you,” he added flicking his wand at Lance and forcing him to his knees on the grimy wood floor. 

“No no, you two are special. You’re the lion-bound paladins. The tragic hero and the lucky upstart.”

Lance lowered his eyes to the ground. Even Zarkon, the great wizard who had supposedly run from him in battle could tell that he was just lucky to have lived this long. He couldn’t do anything to save his friends now, he thought helplessly.

“So yes, I have to kill you, but first, I need some information, so let’s just play a little game,” Lotor began, pacing back and forth. “I ask you a question, and if I think you’re lying, I kill you.” Lance felt the cool wood of Lotor’s wand press into his cheek, a physical threat poking him in the face, and shivered. “Now these two can’t die, unfortunately,” Lotor said. “But I really do prefer the screams. Shall we begin?”

\---

“Let’s do a practice round with the little one, right here,” Lotor said, leaning his head down towards Pidge with a mocking smile. She glared back at him, waiting.

“Hmmm, how did you find us down here?” he asked.

Pidge paused, unwilling to give information, but changed her mind and responded, considering that the information was nothing important in helping Zarkon.

“We followed your clues.”

“Straight to the point. You’re no fun,” Lotor complained. He shot a dainty zap of lightning into Pidge’s hand and she yelped in pain. Keith saw Matt shift beside her, his face pale, and Hunk subtly scooted forward to block Pidge from Lotor.

“Alright. That was an easy one. Just for fun,” Lotor said, stepping back and sending chills up Keith’s spine. How were they going to get out of this? Would Lotor really kill them all and take Lance and Shiro. Just the thought of them at Zarkon’s mercy made thunder roil in his stomach.

“Let’s start with the mighty Shiro. You know, I’ve always wanted to know, how is Allura tracking Zarkon’s whereabouts?”

Shiro stared at the ground, sullen and silent.

“Oh. Did you not hear me? Sorry, I do have a tendency to speak very quietly sometimes. I  _ said _ how is Allura tracking Zarkon?”

“I don’t know anything about that,” Shiro replied calmly.

“Really? She sent people after him! They attacked us at our base a week ag- Ah, but we’re not here to discuss effect, just cause. And Allura is the cause. Right? You know all about cause and effect. You’re a teacher. A potions master, even.”

“I don’t know.”

“Fine.” Lotor grabbed Shiro’s head and Keith saw what looked like claws unsheathe themselves from his normal fingernails. They dug into either side of Shiro’s head and Lotor shoved him into the wall. Keith gasped, felt Hunk tense beside him.

Shiro moved to sit up again, eyes glassy and distant. Blood dripped from his temples, trailing its way around his ears and down his neck.

“Ah, nooo. Now he’s all out of it,” Lotor said, turning back to his audience and wielding his wand like a kitchen knife.

“You.” Lotor pointed his wand at Matt. “Where does the ministry keep the other time turner? Huh?”

“Like I’d tell you that,” Matt said angrily. “I got that job for a reason.”

“I’ll hurt you. I’ll kill youu,” Lotor threatened. His wand dangled dangerously close to Matt’s face, but he didn’t flinch.

“Go ahead. You’ll never find another informant like me. And I’d rather die than give you that information.”

Lotor paused, sweeping forward and pressing his wand into Matt’s broken leg. Matt stared back, sweat beading on his forehead, face white. With a sigh, Lotor leaned back on his heels, looking thoughtful.

“You’re right. Anything I do to you will just spur your heroic nonsense on. But what if I did it to someone else?”

Lotor turned back to Shiro and grabbed him by his hair, wand held under his chin like an executioner’s knife.

“You’ve already hurt your friend by leading him here. Want to betray him again by letting him die in front of you?” Lotor kicked Shiro in the chest and he blood bubbled in his throat. He coughed, red staining the floor. Keith looked away, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

“You won’t kill him,” Matt said, sounding uncertain. Keith could see the pain clouding his vision and anxiety painting his face as he watched his friend’s life get tossed around like chips in a game of poker.

“I will. Zarkon has more of a  _ desire _ to see him, but only really needs this one,” Lotor said, pointing at Lance and making Keith’s blood run cold. 

“He’ll understand an unfortunate death for some juicy information, though.”

Matt sighed. “Fine. Just-okay. It’s in the Time Room in the basement of the Ministry of Magic.”

“Wonderful. Thank you. You heroes and your…  _ empathy _ .”

“It’s heavily guarded,” Matt spat out. “You’ll never find your way in.”

“I will if you help me,” Lotor snarled. “But...you’ll have to wait your turn. Let’s move on, shall we?” He looked around the circle as though browsing the meat section in a grocery store, before stopping in Lance. Keith felt his blood turn to ice in his veins.

“Little Lance McClain. Blue paladin extraordinaire.”

Keith couldn’t breathe. Across the room, Lance glared defiantly back at Lotor, his blue eyes brilliant flames in the dim light.

“Hmmmm. How have you managed to keep getting mixed up in my father’s business? Do you know something about his plans?”

“No.”

“I don’t believe you.” Lotor snapped his wand, sending ropes to lash at Lance’s sides, squeezing him tight and leaving burns across his skin. Lance remained silent, tears welling in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks as he was crushed. 

Before Keith could even think, his mouth was moving, and then sound was coming out. “Stop it! Stop it, you evil creep!” he yelled, then immediately clenched his teeth, widening his eyes when Lotor rounded on him. But at least this lapse of concentration freed Lance from his bonds.

“Ah. So this is your friend, right?” Lotor asked Lance. “The one you took Zarkon’s curse for? Must be someone pretty important…”

Keith glared, his heartbeat doubling as Lotor began to walk towards him, smiling that pointy-toothed grin.

“Wait, dont…” Lance coughed, his voice hoarse. “We-we found a book, okay?”

Lotor nodded. “Oh yes, do go on,” he said, pressing his wand into Keith’s cheek. “You better not be lying,” he sang.

In an instant, with no other ideas in mind, Keith surged forward, turning his face towards Lotor’s wand. He grabbed it between his teeth and bit down, hard. Clenching his teeth, he screwed his eyes shut, until he felt his jaw pop, and wood splintered apart in his mouth. He spit the shards out across the floor, coughing out the remains of Lotor’s wand. Instantly, the bonds fell off of everyone’s wrists and ankles, and Shiro and Matt both jumped forward, pinning Lotor to the floor and wrestling the time turner away from him. Lance crossed the room in a moment, wrapping Keith up in his grimy, sweaty arms and holding him tightly. Dimly, Keith was aware of Pidge and Hunk huddling around them as well.

“I thought you were going to die,” Lance whispered into Keith’s hair. Keith shivered. He scrabbled at the back of Lance’s shirt, twisting his hands in the fabric and clutching tightly.

“I didn’t. We’re okay. You’re okay.”

\---

The four kids clambered out of the ground under the willow, pressing its roots to still it and reaching back to help Matt out of the tunnel. He could barely walk and was hobbling along feverishly, Shiro supporting most of his weight. Shiro held out his wand in front of him, making sure Lotor was tightly bound and unable to escape.

As they stepped out into the night, Matt stumbled, almost falling to the ground as he winced in pain, but Shiro caught him, slowing his pace to steady the other man. 

Whipping around, Lotor shoved his shoulder into Shiro, whose concentration had broken for a moment. The ropes coiled around Lotor’s hands and feet fell away as Shiro’s wand fell to the ground and began rolling away. Lance made a mad dash for it, zeroing in on the thin strip of wood slowly coming to a stop in the grass. He closed in, grabbing for it, but his fingers closed on air as Lotor snatched it up milliseconds before him. 

He turned on the four children, smiling menacingly and eyeing them with a calculating expression. Then, with quick finality, he wheeled on Keith and shouted, “ _ Veloci lupus _ !” shooting Keith with deep purple sparks. Keith keeled over on the ground and Lance felt a rush of air escape from his lungs. He dashed over to Keith, the rest of the world blurring around him.

“What’s happening?! Are you okay?”

Keith didn’t respond, but Pidge yelled in response, sounding very distressed. “That spell is super advanced magic. It’s used to bring out a werewolf’s transformation before the full moon!”

“They can do that?” Lance shouted back, gripping Keith’s sweaty hand, his blood suddenly turning to ice at the thought of seeing Keith’s menacing wolfish state again.

“Yes, if it’s close enough to the full moon, which we are. The effects are really short lasting, though...” Pidge yelled back uncertainly. Lance pressed closer to Keith, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of him, afraid to see his friend lose himself again. He shuddered, the cries of distress and snarls of fighting behind him falling away in his own blind panic. Hunk rapped Lance on the shoulder, bringing him back to the present, and he whirled around to see Lotor and Matt, shooting colorful hexes and spells at one another with astounding speed and power. Shiro lay passed out on the ground, having been attacked after Keith. Lance hadn’t even realized. Matt was fighting hard, but he couldn’t even stand on his own. He leaned against the tree for support as he shot spells at Lotor and swayed unevenly.

“We can’t let him get the time turner!” Pidge shouted to Hunk and Lance. “Let’s help!”

She shouted a spell and Lotor, surprised by the sudden attack from two sides, staggered back. 

Hunk lifted his wand to aid them and Lotor fell back again, snarling. 

Lance couldn’t move. He was frozen in fear, overloaded with the violence all around him. He looked back at Keith and found the hand he was holding was covered in coarse, gray fur. He recoiled for a second and then glanced up, meeting Keith’s baleful eyes in a tense moment. Keith staggered to his feet and began to stumble away, hunched over in pain. 

“Lance,” he croaked. “You have to help the others. And I have to get away from here or I’ll hurt you.”

“Wha-no! You’re in danger, too.”

“Yeah. Of hurting you. Don’t follow me,” Keith ordered, and turned and dashed into the woods. In seconds, he was gone without a trace, leaving Lance standing on the same spot.

“Shit,” he said, realizing how right Keith was. He turned towards Lotor, feeling anger, hot and fiery, bubbling in his veins, and shot spell after spell. Realising he was surrounded on four sides, Lotor’s eyes began to widen, and he eased up until he was only dodging spells, unable to fit in his own. With a final snarl, he whisked his cloak and vanished. Pidge and Hunk ran to Matt and Shiro, while Lance remained standing. 

“We’ve got to get you guys to the hospital wing,” Hunk said, lifting Shiro the best he could. Pidge helped Matt up.

“Thank you guys,” Matt said. “The time turner is safe because of you.” Pidge helped him up and they began walking towards the castle.

In the distance, a howl echoed. 

Lance turned away from the school, ignoring the shouts of the others, and followed his friend into the woods.

\---

Lance ran, following the howls until he had reached a clearing where they rang loudly in his ears, and his legs could take him no further. He doubled over, wheezing to catch his breath, when he suddenly realized the howls had stopped. Instead he heard a quiet panting noise, directly behind him. He swiveled around just in time to come face to face with Keith’s snarling wolf face, before Keith had leapt forward, claws sharp and teeth shining. Lance ducked, lifting his arm to shield himself, and felt a deep, slicing pain in his forearm. Gasping, he looked down to find himself dripping with blood from three long claw marks. 

“Keith! You-”

Keith suddenly backed away, eyes wide, emitting a high pitched whine. He then turned and dashed away. Lance followed, tree branches whipping in his face, the still night air stinging at his wounds. They stopped in a brightly lit clearing where Keith had begun stumbling around weakly. Coming closer, Lance noticed his fur receding and his tail shrinking. He dashed forward to catch Keith in his arms just as the boy began to fall.

“Are you okay?”

Keith was muttering weakly. “Lance. I told you not to follow me,” he said, tears welling in his eyes as he gripped Lance’s arm and saw the blood drip down, smeared on his own fingertips.

“It’s just a scratch,” Lance said quietly. “I’m going to take you home now.”

But Keith was pointing up, past Lance, eyes wide, his hands shaking.

Lance followed his finger and saw what had spooked werewolf Keith. All around them, dementors began to close in, coming from the dark corners of the forest where they had been lurking. 

“It’s okay. Matt showed me how to stop them,” Lance said, pulling out his wand. 

“He wha-” Keith started, looking bewildered, but before he could finish, a dementor swooped down on him, and he began to twitch uncontrollably, tears running in two long lines down his cheeks. Lance felt the crush of cold and despair upon him as the dementors closed in.

“ _ Expecto patronum _ !” he yelled. “Leave us alone!”

Panicked, he searched his mind wildly for a happy memory, and could come up with nothing.

“ _ Expecto patronum _ !” He thought of his little sister’s favorite stuffed toy that she loved to take with her everywhere she went. A wisp of silver.  _ I’m not even good enough to protect my best friend, how could I keep her safe? _ he thought.

“ _ Expecto patronum _ !” He remembered the time Professor Shiro had told him he had made the best Pepper Up potion in the whole class. An even smaller wisp.  _ That’s your greatest achievement? I’ll never be good at anything and I’ll never be good enough to stop this. _

_ No _ , he thought, holding a seizing Keith in his arms, shivering in the cold, and wrought with despair.  _ I can’t die here. I won’t let  _ Keith _ die here. _

He thought about Keith, remembering a Potions class where they had been goofing off with Pidge and Hunk. Having given up on their unsuccessful sleeping draughts, they started testing out random ingredients until a cup of frogspawn caused a mini, sulfurous explosion. Shiro scolded them, but with a twinkle in his eye, and Keith was overcome with a fit of giggles, his face scrunching up in joy. Lance had stood there, unable to take his eyes away from that radiant face, wanting to hold Keith encircled tight in his arms and keep that smile on his face forever.

“ _ Expecto Patronum _ !” he bellowed, and silver burst from his wand. A dolphin exploded from his wand amidst waves of sparkling light and danced amongst the black hooded figures, making them flee in fear.

Keith watched with wide eyes, still shaking weakly in Lance’s grip. He smiled tiredly up at Lance, who grinned back.

“Wow,” Keith mumbled into Lance’s robes. “Wish I could do that.”

“I’ll teach you,” Lance said. Holding tight to Keith, he let the dementors and dolphins blur out of mind and into darkness.

\---

Keith woke in the brightly lit hospital wing, the familiar room taking shape as he realized where he was.

“Good morning sunshine,” a very welcome voice said from his right side. Keith turned to see Lance lying in the next bed, his arm wrapped up in gauze, a stupid, dazzling grin shining on his face.

The elation at seeing Lance beside him was immediately replaced with a wave of sickening guilt when Keith remembered where Lance’s injury was from.

Lance seemed to notice the change in his expression and his face softened. “Hey no biggie, right? Miss Eloise fixed me up super quick. No wolfie side effects because it wasn’t the full moon. Although, I don’t know. I personally think I’d look  _ very _ cute with a nice pair of fluffy ears.”

Keith frowned. “This isn’t a joke, Lance.”

Lance smile faltered. “Yeah, uh. I know. I just, was worried. And, I chose to go after you, you know.”

Keith swallowed. “Yeah.”

“I...wanted to help.”

“You did,” Keith said, looking back up at Lance. “How...did you know how to get rid of the dementors?” he asked uncertainly.

Lance faltered a little at that, clearing his throat and scratching at the back of is head.

“Uh, I-well, I actually learned from Professor Holt.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I went to take classes with him.”

“Wow. That’s dedication,” Keith breathed. “Why did you...?”

“Um I-well, actually, I wanted to be prepared,” Lance said, looking nervous. “In case they attacked you,” he added lamely, looking nervously up at Keith with his big blue eyes.

“You...did that for me?” Keith asked, feeling a smile stretching across his face.

“Yeah. I wanted to keep you safe,” Lance said, smiling back.

Keith felt his cheeks warm. “Thanks,” he said. “For saving me.”

“Of course, my fiiine mullet-headed friend. I do believe that’s the second time I’ve saved your life? Or was it the third?” Lance pondered deeply, rubbing his chin in thought.

Keith began to laugh. He was relieved and happy to be sitting there with Lance, watching him pull funny faces and make stupid jokes.

Lance quickly followed suit and the pair dissolved into laughter.

“Hey!” Miss Eloise shouted from the doorway. “My patients are trying to heal!”

“We  _ are  _ your patients,” Keith answered, gulping back laughter.

“Not you. Them,” Miss Eloise said, gesturing to the other side of the room where two men lay sleeping. It was Matt and Shiro, both looking considerably better than they did last night.

“Also, you have guests,” Miss Eloise said, letting Pidge and Hunk into the room. 

The two kids ran over to Keith and Lance.

“How are you feeling?” Hunk asked. Keith and Lance both assured him they were feeling fine, and they began to discuss last night’s happenings in a whisper.

“We went back for you guys after we took Shiro and Matt here,” Pidge said, “you were just like lying there, all cuddled up together by the lake. It’s like you fell asleep on a  romantic date or something,” she snorted. Keith felt his face catch fire, and he glared at her. 

Lance gaped, mouth opening and closing wordlessly. “No  _ way _ would I ever take  _ Keith  _ on a romantic date by the lake!” he shouted, face red.

Keith’s stomach dropped and pressure squeezed at his eyes. “Right,” he said gruffly, trying to agree with Lance while masking his disappointment and embarrassment.

“Well, the most important thing is, everyone is safe, and Zarkon didn’t get the time turner to make his evil immortality potion,” Hunk said.

“Thank goodness,” Lance said. “That dude sucks. You would not want him around forever.”

Hunk slung an arm around Keith and grinned around at all of them. “I’m just glad I’ll have you guys around forever.”

“Aw Huuunk,” Lance said, wrapping one arm around Pidge, who squirmed uncomfortably, and blowing Hunk a kiss. He winked at Keith, who, with great annoyance, felt himself blush again, and smiled down at his sheets.

“Well, we survived another year. Yay. Woo,” Pidge said apathetically.

“Woo,” the others chorused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know i haven't updated in a while because i was in college (my first year!) which was very hard, plus i suck and i was dealing with my own eeeemotional issues which Im sure you guys know all about yah yeet
> 
> But its summer now so i figure what the heck im bored anyway
> 
> HOpe you enjoyed :)  
> luv u guys


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